Crossed Blades
by erttheking
Summary: There are other worlds out there, many of them reflecting the one Lucina and her family and friends are used to. One world, however, is nothing like what they know. An otherworldly darkness is slowly choking it. A handful of warriors fight to stop it, warriors that Lucina and her friends will find herself fighting alongside in a desperate battle as two worlds cross paths.
1. Waking

Chapter 1

Waking

Author's Note: I kind of had to make some tweaks to both the lore and meat of Dark Souls in order to make it transition to a written medium well. I'll try to explain the logic behind my choices at the end of each chapter. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you feel I didn't properly explain something. There's always a chance I'll forget something.

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Fare panted as she wildly glanced around her. She had no idea where she was, only that it was some sort of deep dark carven, barely enough light to see an arms length in front of her. Desperately, she extended her palm and tried to summon a fireball, tried to will the flame into existence, anything to cast away this darkness but nothing came. It didn't work. She desperately tried to remember. How had she come to be here? Where had she been before? Nothing came.

A scuttling noise reached her ears, and instinctively she reached for her sword, only to find that her sheath was empty. A quick reach around to her back revealed that her shield had also mysteriously vanished. In fact, she didn't even seem to be wearing the armor that she had found, her hands finding only bare flesh. "What's going on?" she whispered. Fear was coursing through her, she had no idea what to do, she just wanted this to end.

"Murderer." Something directly behind her had spoken, so close that she could feel hot breath on her back. Her body tensed. She knew that voice. She had done everything in her power to try and forget that voice, but it refused to leave her. Bitter regret swelled in her stomach. "Murderer." it repeated.

Against her better judgement, Fare turned around. A giant spider, several times her size, was standing just behind her. It's entire body was a fiery red, with dozens of milky white eyes dotting its face, and the creature itself seemed to glow a bright crimson. But that wasn't what drew Fare's eyes, as she was focused on the crest of the spider's head. The upper body of a woman, everything from the waist up, was rooted in the head of the spider. A beautiful woman with flowing long red hair, smooth silky skin and well crafted dainty features. There was an exception to this, however. Her head was dangling to the side, hanging onto her neck by a thin strip of flesh, blood spurting out of the bare stump.

The dangling head smiled a cruel, crooked smile. "Murderer," it said softly.

Fare sank to her knees, her hands clasped in front of her. She had to make her understand, she had to. She couldn't hold it inside any longer. "Daughter of Fire," she blurted out, "I beg of you for forgiveness. I have sinned, this I cannot deny. I have committed one of the most heinous acts imaginable, but I assure you it was not my intent! Please Daughter of Fire!" Fare felt tears sting the back of her eyes. She hadn't meant to! Surely she could understand. "If I had had any idea of who you were. I would have…I would have…please."

The woman smiled. "Murderer." she said softly, the spider's head leaning forward, opening its giant maw to reveal a black void with no end. Fare opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. A flow of magma burst from the spider's mouth, speeding directly towards her. She knew that it would sear the flesh from her bones within seconds, if she was lucky it would be a quick death. If not, she would lie on the ground with what little of her body was left from the attack, waiting for the mercy of death. It was almost at her when everything fell apart. The floor gave way underneath her, the woman in the spider dissolved into a grey goop and she started to fall when she felt a violent jerk of her head.

The next thing she knew, she was sitting in a small, slightly dusty room, marble lining the wall and orange tiles making up the floor. A small fire was burning around a rusted sword that was planted in the ground. It all came rushing back to her. She was in Anor Londo. Quelaag was dead. It had all just been a nightmare. "Thank the Mother of Fire," she whispered.

She let out a small sigh of relief, looking at her side. Her sword was there, in fact both of them were. The longsword she had bought from Andre of Astora was resting in its sheath, right next to the green, curved fury sword that had once belonged to Quelaag. She felt a pang of guilt. She wasn't sure if she was worthy to use a sword that belonged to a daughter of a Lord after what she had done. On the other hand, she couldn't have just left it there, even if she had murdered its previous owner. A pang of guilt echoed in the pit of her stomach

" _You didn_ _'_ _t murder her!_ " she thought to herself. " _She attacked YOU. You were defending yourself!_ " That did little to make the horrible feeling in her gut go away. Truth be told, she had no idea what had happened down in the depth of Blight town.

She didn't know why one of the seven Daughters of Chaos had been lurking in the cavern that held the Bell of Awakening, or why she had been corrupted into a massive beast. It was very possible that she had become a predator, waiting at a place where she knew warriors seeking the Bell of Awakening would come so that she could kill them. On the other hand, she could have very easily been trying to defend her territory from a potential intruder.

Fare would never know. The only person who had known was Quelagg, and she had taken the answers with her when she died. That egg man she had found underneath didn't seem to realize that Quelagg was even dead, much less what her plans were. And the Fair Lady, Quelagg's sister, had actively mistaken Fare for Quelagg. Fare felt her eyes sting Fair Lady, the poor thing had actually thought that she was her sister.

Fare bitterly thought back to how she barely had been able to get away from the Fair Lady before she had completely lost her composure. Even then though, she had asked why she was crying. She had wanted to know why her older sister was crying. "Mother of Fire save me," she whispered.

"Hm? Did you say something?" Fare looked up. Sitting on the other side of the bonfire in slightly worn but still shining armor was Solaire of Astoria. His helmet was on the ground in front of him, revealing a rough but friendly face and short golden hair.

"Bad dreams," Fare said, pulling off the helmet of her scavenged knight armor and rubbing her eyes. She would be hesitant to call anyone her friend in Lordran, you rarely stayed around someone long enough to become friends with them. Solaire was an exception to this. Even though their paths commonly separated, he was the only person she found herself regularly fighting alongside, and there was simply something strong that was forged when you were constantly relying on someone to keep you alive.

"I think everyone has them," Solaire said, nodding sympathetically. "With the world the way it is now, I would be afraid of the person who didn't have nightmares."

"That doesn't do much to make it easier to bear," Fare said. "Wait," she said, looking at Solaire. "You have nightmares?"

He nodded, smiling sadly. "All the time, I am not ashamed to admit. I'd rather not say what about though. Personal matters, I hope you understand."

"I do, I feel the same way about mine," Fare said. "I just know how it feels and I want you to know you can talk to me."

Solaire let out a gentle laugh. "If I didn't know any better, I think you had feelings for me." Fare snorted. The idea of her and Solaire together was laughable. To be honest the idea of her being with anyone seemed far-fetched to her. Solaire flushed slightly at the snort. "Oh no, dear me. Pretend you didn't hear that."

"Hear what?" Fare asked. Before either of them could help themselves, they both burst into laughter.

"Oh, it's good to remember how to laugh," Solaire said, still chuckling lightly. Fare grinned at him, the nightmare that she had had out of her mind. "Well, as much as I hate to break up the good mood, I feel like you and I are well rested. You did promise that you would tell me about that serpent when we were."

She sighed. She had remembered that. She would've told Solaire when she had first gotten here, but that had been right after she had run up a flying buttress, dodging arrows the size of spears while she had done so. She had been a little bit tired after that, to say the least. "He calls himself Kingseeker Frampt, he appeared at Firelink Shrine after I rang both Bells of Awakening. He said that I'm the Chosen Undead, and that I'm supposed to take Lord Gwyn's place and drive off the darkness plaguing Lordran."

"I see he has excellent judgement then! I can think of very few who are more worthy to take the place of the Lord of Fire than you," Solaire said, a sincere smile on his face.

Fare flushed. "Shut up," she mumbled. "I'm not a leader. I guess I'm pretty good at fighting considering everything I had to do to get this far, but a leader of an entire kingdom? I'm a peasant from the Great Swamp! I may dress like a knight, but I only found these weapons and armor and learned to use them after I got here!"

Solaire smiled. "Perhaps that is why you are not Lord yet. The journey Frampt has set out for you will mold you, give you the skills you need."

"Maybe," Fare said skeptically. There was no way she was going to give up on the quest that she had been given. It seemed far-fetched, but with a lack of alternative options in the miserable world of Lordran, she was willing to take any chance to make it better. Even if she did feel like it seemed impossible that she was supposed to rule the entire land. Still, she knew she had to press on, it gave her something to work towards, something that gave her purpose. Without it she might go-" _NO! NO!_ " she mentally shouted at herself. " _Don_ _'_ _t even THINK about that! You are NOT going Hollow!_ "

Slowly, she raised up the palm of her hand. The mark of the Darksign, that uneven charred circle, growly faintly. How many times had she died? How many times had her sanity been put at risk? How many times had she treaded the line between coming back, in agony but still of sound mind, and becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of mindless Hollows that roamed through Lordran.

"Fare?" Solaire said, tilting his head.

Fare shook her head. "Sorry. Anyway, Frampt said that I had to come here to Anor Londo to find something called the Lord Vessel. He seems very enthusiastic about it, apparently it'll help me somehow. He really does want things to get better." She wrinkled her nose. "I just wish his breath didn't smell like someone crawled in his mouth a year ago and died."

Solaire chuckled. "Well Chosen Undead-"

"Please don't call me that," Fare said, wincing as she heard the title. She didn't want to be some pompous stuck up braggart who spouted off titles every time she met someone.

"Very well then. Fare. It is your duty to retrieve the Lordvessel and return it to Frampt. It would, however, be my pleasure to help you on your mission. If you will allow me that is."

Fare paused. "And this is different from how you helped me kill the gargoyles on the roof of the church and that giant dragon with the mouth for a ribcage how?"

Solaire shrugged, still smiling. "Somewhat more permanent?" he replied.

"I don't really see why you can't. After all, I am supposed to be a leader, might as well get some followers," she said.

Solaire got to his feet and did an exaggerated bow, grinning goofily. "Then by your leave my Lord."

"Shut up," Fare said, but she was grinning.

"Well, then, we have a Lordvessel to find," he said getting to his feet and sliding his helmet back over his head.

"No sense in putting it off it seems," Fare said, putting her own helmet back on. "I ran into a couple of Black Knights with giant bows outside. Did you see anymore on the way in before I got here?"

"They weren't Black Knights, they were Silver Knights," Solaire said. "The Silver Knights are the guardians of Anor Londo. The Black Knights are the ones who fight the enemies of the Lords in far off lands. I suppose you could say the Silver Knights are the shield and the Black Knights are the sword."

"Ah," Fare said, feeling rather embarrassed. She had a sinking feeling that what Solaire had just told her was common knowledge to the people of Lordran, and even outside kingdoms. She hadn't lived in Lordran or the outlying kingdoms, she had lived in the Great Swamp, far away from castles and cities. She felt rather stupid and lowered her head slightly in shame.

Solaire seemed to notice. "Oh don't worry," he said gently. "It's a simple mistake and it's not particularly vital to our mission. Just know that they tend to use lighter weapons than their black brothers."

"Right," Fare said, drawing Quelagg's fury sword with her right hand and grasping her crest shield with the other. Solaire himself had drawn his sword and shield before walking away from the bonfire, to the exit of the room. Fare followed and reached him just as he gently creaked the door open.

The two stepped out into the hallway, glanced to either end, and began to move deeper into the castle. Fare was still rather impressed by the state of Anor Londo. So many parts of Lordran seemed to be in ruin, which made the massive intact buildings of the city seem impossible by comparison. As they neared the end, they both spotted a pair of Silver Knights, eight feel tell and clutching longswords and shields. Fare grit her teeth, raised her shield but she had only taken one step forward before she faltered.

One of the knights had stepped forward, but instead of attacking, it had actually sheathed its sword. With its now free hand, it pointed down a hallway, the other knight watching silently. "It's giving us directions?" Fare whispered to Solaire. "Have you ever seen them do this before?"

"I've only seen Silver Knights once or twice," he replied. "Maybe they can tell that we're here to retrieve the Lordvessel."

Fare scowled. She had her doubts, mere hours ago she had been dodging arrows the size of spears from Silver Knights. For some reason however, these Silver Knights weren't attacking them. It could be that things were different now that they were inside the castle itself, but she had her doubts. "Well, I don't exactly want to pick a fight if they're not interested in starting one either," she said. "Might as well follow them."

Solaire nodded as they both turned in the direction the Silver Knight was pointing. For what felt like a good half hour the walked though the countless winding corridors of the castle. Every time they reached the end of a corridor or hit a dead end, a Silver Knight was there to point them in the right direction.

"This is eerie," Fare muttered, as they turned away from yet another knight. "I'm so used to everything trying to kill you in this kingdom. I feel like any second they're going to drop the courtesy act and surround us. They could have a wall of spears and swords around us in seconds, and we'd be dead.

"We've strong armor and good steel," Solaire said, "they'd have to be prepared to sacrifice many of their own to defeat us. If we were separated, they might have a chance, but together we would be a nightmare to them."

Fare fought back the urge to laugh. Solaire could be a little naive at times, but truth be told his optimism could also be a breath of fresh air in the world of Lordran. "You're confident."

"You and I have overcome much to make it this far, we can handle knights that are a mere shadow of what they used to be," he replied.

Fare frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Haven't you ever wondered why Black Knights never speak?" he replied. "In a way, they're not that different from Hollows. Back before the fire began to dim, they were mighty warriors. They were the knights who fought alongside the Lords and kept pace with them. They were without peers. But now, their armor is all that remains of them. All of these suits are empty, filled with the ashes of the warriors that once wore them."

Fare blinked. She had expected to feel embarrassed once again for not knowing something that was apparently obvious about the Black Knights, but instead she felt shocked. "How did that happen?"

Solaire shook his head. "There are only rumors. One rumor is that Gwyn sacrificed his soul to the bonfire to keep it alive longer, and when he died all of his knights turned to ash because of the bond they shared with his soul. Others say that the Black Knights fell victim to the Darksign as well, and that they disintegrate instead of rotting like we do. Some people even say that the Black Knights are just animated armor brought to live using the dark magic of necromancy. I don't know myself, the world the way it is now is simply a long line of questions without answers."

Fare glanced out of a nearby window, trying to process all of the information she had just been told. As she did, she spotted something that caused her to stop in her tracks. "Solaire, what's that?" she asked, pointing out of the window. Clouds were gathering in the distance, the flash of lightning bolts illuminating them. At first glance, it disappeared to be an ordinary lighting storm, but there was something off about it. The clouds were darker than any clouds that Fare had ever seen in her life, to the point where they looked less like clouds and more like concentrated darkness. The lightning bolts were dazzling when they shot out of the clouds and into the ground, but inside they looked dim and faint. Barely visible through the clouds.

"Abyss," Solaire said softly. Fare looked at Solaire in horror. This was something she actually knew about.

"The same Abyss that New Anor Londo was flooded to stop?" she said in terror.

"There's nothing else that it could be," Solaire said grimly, still looking at the storm. "Of all the things that have gone wrong with this world, the Abyss is the most recognizable, and the most dangerous. It's why Gwyn was willing to sacrifice an entire city just to keep it at bay."

"It must be the bonfires," Fare said quietly. "They're going out. The Abyss appeared when everything started to fall apart, and now the bonfires are even dimmer. It's easier than ever for the Abyss to reach us." Horror filled her as she spoke these words. Even in the Great Swamp people had spoken of the Abyss in hushed tones. A great void that swallowed up any living thing that got near it, and whatever it didn't kill, it twisted into mindless and warped beasts. Beasts that would carry out the Abyss' will and slaughter all who opposed it. No blade could cut the Abyss, no spell could banish it. The bonfires were the only defense against it. The bonfires that were slowly going out.

"I can't see how else it would be possible," Solaire said. "We need to move more quickly. Us getting the Lordvessel, you replacing Lord Gwyn, it's the only way we can stop it."

" _I hope,_ " Fare thought. " _Hope? What are you saying? Of course it_ _'_ _ll work, it NEEDS to work._ " Fighting back the urge to swallow, she and Solaire kept moving forward. After some time, they found themselves in a massive open hall, the ceiling far above them and a massive gate at one end.

"I think that's the main entrance," Solaire said. Fare felt a twinge of annoyance. She had gone through the arrow dodging incident just to find docile knights who would send them marching about a castle until they ended up by the front door? Had simply letting them in been too much of a hassle?

A pair of giant sentries wielding shields and halberds stood on either side of the hall. They glanced at the two of them before pointing their weapons away from the front gate. Solaire and Fare walked by them, Fare idly watching the sentries. If they wanted to, she had little doubt they could simply just crush her like an insect with their shields. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, and within seconds they had reached the end of the hall.

They stepped through an archway, into a chamber nearly as tall as the hallway they had just exited. It was empty, except for the pillars that filled the room, and a large figure in gold armor on the far end. It was easily the strangest armor that Fare had even seen. It emulated the look of a man with a massive pot belly, even going so far as to properly show how such a man's breast would look. Fare gagged as she spotted this. It was so well crafted that Fare though the man might actually be that fat, until she spotted the giant warhammer that he had one firm hand on. The head of it easily dwarfed her and Solaire put together.

Whoever it was, he simply stared at the two of them. Fare considered calling out when a voice echoed from above them. "Are you the one chosen by Frampt?" She snapped her head up just in time to see a figure jump down from a balcony above them, landing near the other one. This man was smaller than the first, though still a head larger than a Black Knight. His armor was much more impressive, being the same bright gold as his companion's, but with sharp edges to it, and a helmet that looked like a Lion with bared teeth. A spear, as long as he was, was clutched in his hand.

"Yes," she said. "I'm Fare of the Great Swamp. Frampt said I'm to succeed Lord Gwyn as Lord of Fire," she said. "Who are you?"

"I am the Captain of Gwyn's Four Knights. Ornstein the Dragonslayer." Fare's heart leapt up into her throat. The Ornstein the Dragonslayer? Everyone had heard of him, even in the most remote corners of the world. There were countless rumors about him, ranging from his ability to slay any foe with a single strike, to the possibility that he had been able to fight all three of the other Four Knights to a standstill.

Fare nodded. "I've heard of you. If even half of the tales are true I'd be deeply impressed."

Ornstein chuckled softly. "I thank you," he said. "And my companion is Smough. Former royal executioner. I have taken him as a squire."

Fare blinked. She had never heard of Smough before. As if he could read her mind, Solaire whispered in disgust, "You wouldn't have heard of him, he's a disgrace. He's brutal and cruel to those who were put at his mercy and he was once caught eating the remains of a man he had executed. Among other things."

Fare's eyes widened. Someone like that had been allowed in Anor Londo? She was about to ask for clarification when she saw Smough looking directly at them. It was impossible to tell at this distance and with Smough's helmet on, but Fare felt like he was glaring at them.

"Smough has done things I do not approve of, I will not deny it," Ornstein said. "Nonetheless, I saw potential in him, so now he squires for me. So, Frampt has declared you the Chosen Undead?"

"Yes," Fare said, nodding her head and trying to keep her eyes on Ornstein and off of Smough. She could feel him staring at her. "He said that we had to retrieve the Lordvessel. I take it that guarding it is your duty?"

"Indeed it is. However, Frampt is not here, and he has no way of communicating with the palace," Ornstein said. "Just because you claim that you are the Chosen Undead does not mean that you are. There are two of you here, therefore making it through Sen's Fortress is not enough to prove you are the Chosen Undead. Many have done it."

Fare's head pounded with frustrated and a spike of anger shot through here. That was it? She had come all this way and they didn't even believe that she was who she said she was? "Then how do you suggest that I prove it?" she asked, taking care to keep her voice level. The last thing she needed was to give Smough an excuse to use his hammer on her.

"Simple, a duel," Ornstein said. "Did you notice that the Silver Knights stopped attacking you when you entered the castle?" Fare nodded, frowning. She had been wondering about that. Ornstein sighed sadly. "They were given orders before they became what they were. To guard the castle from all except the worthy that enter it. It is why they still attacked you until were inside, at which point you had proven your skill as worthy, to get past their guard. I must as you to do the same with me."

"You gotta fight the two of us," Smough said. His voice was much softer than Fare had been expecting, but there was a barely concealed tone of malice in it. "The last of the Four Knights." Before she could stop herself, Fare sniggered. This man in giant saggy armor, one of the Four Knights? Lord Gwyn's chosen warriors? The concept was too hilarious to take seriously. "Sorry," Smough said. "What did I say that was so funny?"

"You are not one of the Four Knights," Solaire said sternly. "You squire to one of them. There's a difference. There's a reason there are only four of them, it's a position of the utmost honor. You have already received a great honor by squiring for the last one left. You are not, however, his equal. You may be one day, but that is an honor you will have to work towards. To earn."

He gestured to Fare. "Much like how Fare has had to work to earn her honor as the Chosen Undead, and how Ornstein is _still_ asking her to work for it. We must work to earn what we desire, we can turn to friends and allies in our times of need, but we still must earn it and not simply demand it be handed to us. You must do so to become one of the four just as Fare must do so to succeed Gwyn, and I must do so to find my sun."

Smough let out a soft laugh. "Your sun? It's right up there in the sky," he said, pointing upward. "What? You never looked?"

Fare glanced at Solaire. She would never admit it, especially if it meant mocking Solaire, but she had never understood what he meant about finding his sun. Ever since they had met, he had told her how he had come to Lordran to "seek his very own sun" . At first Fare thought he had thought he was mad, but things had gotten confusing when Solaire had said that she should find the concept odd.

After that, she had no idea what to think of him. If Solaire had lost his sanity, he would not have found looking for a sun to be strange, yet he clearly had enough of his wits about him to know how bizarre the concept sounded. Just to pile on how confusing the whole matter was, he never explained to her what he meant by finding his sun, simply smiling and walking away whenever she asked.

"Not the sun, my own sun," Solaire said. "I don't know what it looks like, but I have faith I'll recognize it when I see it."

There was a barely audible sound, and Fare had the nauseating feeling that Smough had just smacked his lips. "I want to fight him," Smough said. "He came with the Chosen, shouldn't he be tested too?"

"He is a trusted companion of mine, he has helped me surpass quite a few challenges, and even helped me ring the first Bell of Awakening," Fare said hastily. She felt rather selfish for saying so, but she didn't have very much confidence in her ability to fight both Smough and Ornstein on her own. Ornstein alone was cause for concern, she shuddered to think how she was supposed to get around his spear while also avoiding Smough's hammer.

Ornstein, however, glared at Smough. "Kindly do not speak for me Smough. I intended to fight the Chosen by myself. My goal is to gage her skill, not kill her. If, it pleases you however, you may fight her companion." He looked at Solaire. "Forgive me, I don't recall you name."

"My apologies, I never gave it," Solaire said, his voice warm once again. "Solaire of Astoria."

Ornstein paused, thinking silently. "Very well. Solaire, you shall fight Smough, and I Fare. None of us is to interfere with a duel that we are not a part of."

"Good," Smough said, heaving his warhammer off of the ground and holding it in both hands.

"Good luck," Solaire whispered to Fare, stepping away from her, his shield and sword raised.

"Are you ready?" Ornstein asked, looking at the Undead.

Fare drew in deeply and exhaled. Ornstein wasn't going to be fighting to the death. That meant he would most likely be holding back. If she fought with everything she had while he didn't, she might actually have a chance. She fought back the urge to swallow. "Yes."

"Very well." Before Fare could even react, Ornstein was in front of her. She had no idea how it had happened, he had been on the other side of the room and no more than a second had passed. She had no time to figure it out though, as Ornstein was thrusting his spear at her. Desperately, barely able to keep up, she shifted her shield to block the attack. He didn't let up, a flurry of swift blows followed, Fare's shield quaking in her hand as she struggled to keep her grip.

In the middle of his barrage, Ornstein nimbly stepped to the side, thrusting far to the left of Fare's shield. Fare fought back the urge to scream in pain as the spear ripped through her side, her armor practically nonexistent against Ornstein's strength. He pulled back for another thrust, but Fare acted. She knew if she tried to block him again, he would just shift again and attack her side. So she went on the offensive, charging forward, fighting the pain, and swung her sword.

Ornstein reacted quickly, jumping back just avoiding the blow. Charging forward, Fare thrust her sword again, this time managing to drive it into Ornstein's leg. It did not, however, go as deep as Fare had wanted it to, only a few inches deep. Ornstein's armor had absorbed the majority of the blow's force.

His body tensed, but he did not stumble. He thrust forward again, this time his spear burying itself in Fare's stomach, her blood splattering all over the floor. Seething in agony, she broke off, turning and putting distance between her and Ornstein. As she ran, she sheathed her sword and grabbed a glass flask from her side, swallowing a mouthful of the golden liquid inside. Estus, a healing draft. It dulled the pain in her side and stomach and stopped the blood dripping to the floor. The pain still lingered through.

She turned on the spot, shield raised. She had expected Ornstein to be directly behind her, but he was where she had left him. Remembering how fast he could move, she didn't lower her guard, tensing as she saw him raise his spear. He did not charge though, he thrust his spear forward in mid-air, and a fork of lightning shot out. It hit her shield, which did little to stop the energy surging through her body, bringing with it agonizing pain. " _All right then_ ," Fare though to herself. Holding out her empty hand, she concentrated.

Fire ignited there, feeling warm in her palm and growing into a ball the size of her head. With a grunt, she threw it at Ornstein, who sidestepped it with a single graceful move. Fare pelted a second ball of fire and this one found its mark, impacting on Ornstein's chest. He did not scream, but Fare could see his body wince as it hit. He stiffened, and once again crossed the room in a single charge.

Fare didn't think, she acted. He had done this before, attempting to block the assault would simply result in her being overwhelmed and flanked. She threw herself forward, under the thrust of Ornstein's spear, she grabbed the hilt of her furysword. Letting out a roar, she drew the sword and swung it as hard as she could with one swing. It hit the highest part of Ornstein she could reach, which was his side, the blade burying itself in Ornstein as blood spurted out.

For a second, Fare felt a great sense of accomplishment, and pulled back for another swing. Ornstein was quicker though. Taking a step back, he unleashed another flurry of thrusts. Fare, in the middle of a sword swing, couldn't get her shield up in time. The next thing she knew, she was on her back, her sword having flown out of her hand. Her chest was in agony, she could feel five different wounds and warm blood trickling out.

Forcing herself to her knees, she drew her Estus flask and swallowed two mouthfuls. The wounds stopped bleeding, but the pain didn't truly vanish. Panting, she drew her longsword and got to her feet, but Ornstein was holding his hand up. "Enough," he said, twirling his spear and planting the hilt on the ground.

"W-what?" Fare said, her grip tightening on her longsword and shield. "But we just-"

"I meant to judge your skills, and I have. An ordinary Human would not have lasted five seconds against me, much less have inflicted a wound on me." He chuckled. "You inflicted three."

"You inflicted seven," Fare panted. "I just-I mean-it seems like you won."

"The goal was not to win, but to if you are worthy of being called the Chosen Undead. I say that you succeeded." He nodded his head. "Forgive me for the pain I caused you, I needed to see everything you were capable of."

"I understand," Fare said, while inside of her a maelstrom of conflicting emotions roared. Part of her was mad at Ornstein, part of her was ecstatic that she had passed her test, and mostly she was confused as to what had just happened.

"Now then, your companion should…ugh." A groan of pure disgust came from Ornstein. A quick glance told her why. Smough had none of the speed or control that Ornstein did. He was swinging his hammer viciously, trying to kill Solaire with one swing. Solaire was dancing around Smough with ease though, the hammer swings taking too long to prepare in order to catch him. Solaire was completely unharmed, while Smough's blood had splattered all over the floor. Smough's armor was even thicker than Ornstein, but Solaire darted forward and swung his sword at Smough's legs, plunging it in-between the gaps. Smough responded by hissing and swinging his hammer again, Solaire easily dodging. The former executioner didn't seem to have any other plans. He didn't retreat, didn't try and defend himself, he didn't even change his offense.

"Enough!" Ornstein snapped. "You are besmirching the name of the Four Knights Smough!" The fight stopped instantly. Smough was breathing heavily, while Solaire barely seemed tired. Upon realizing that the fight was over, Solaire immediately put some distance between him and Smough.

Ornstien crossed the room in a flash as Solaire slowly made his way back to Fare. The dragonslayer glared at Smough, though he had to crane his neck up in order to do so. "Sloppy," he said. "No tact, no form, no discipline. He didn't even look like he was trying very hard to avoid you. You let your anger get the better of you."

"He insulted me," Smough hissed. "Don't you always say a knight should have his pride? He said I wasn't one of the Four Knights. Am I supposed to-" he was cut off. Ornstein flipped his spear over and thrust it forward. The butt struck Smough in the face, and although he was wearing his helmet, he still clutched at his head and let out a soft groan of pain.

"You insulted his goal just as much as he insulted your position. Your words were even sharper I found. Yet he did not let his emotions rule him. He kept his focus on the fight and didn't let personal grudges dictate his actions A painfully basic rule of combat that you seem to be struggling with." Ornstein let out a groan of frustration. "I see so much potential in you Smough, but you need to unlock it yourself. The human is right, you need to earn it."

Smough made a noise that Fare couldn't quite place, but said nothing else. "I apologize for my squire's unruly behavior," Ornstein said. "You have proven yourself worthy of being the Chosen Undead, and your companion of being worthy of following you."

Fare sighed in relief. "Thank you. Frampt said that the Lordvessel would be here. Do you have it?"

"I don't, but my Lady does." Orenstein pointed his spear at the balcony he had jumped off of earlier. "You will find her upstairs. Good luck on your quest." Fare glanced at Solaire, who gave her a firm nod. The two of them made their way across the room, Smough still glaring at both of them, before coming across a pair of stone elevators.

Fare noticed that one of the elevators was rather small, just enough to hold a couple of people, while the authored was simply gigantic. " _Makes sense in a way. Ornstein wouldn_ _'_ _t fit on the smaller one._ _"_ Both she and Solaire stepped into the smaller one, and were raised up. Within a few seconds, they were stepping off onto the balcony. A bonfire was dimly crackling in front of them, and to the left was a giant set of double doors.

Fare's heart was pounding upon seeing the doors. Part of her wanted to stop at the bonfire first, to refill her Estus and make the aching pains in her body vanish, but those thoughts were pushed out. She felt a kind of panicky excitement at the sight of the doors. Whatever Frampt had sent her here to do, whatever Ornstein had meant by his Lady, it was on the other side of the door.

Without thinking, she found herself in front of the giant double doors, a hand on each one, pushing. It opened slowly, but still felt much easier to open than Fare had been expecting. As the doors creeped open, Fare felt the urge to either cover her eyes or look away. She felt like she was staring into a bright light, even though the room beyond was no more well lit than the one she was in. Fighting the urge to slam her eyes shut, she forced herself to look forward.

A massive woman, who dwarfed Ornstein, Smough, and even giants in size, was lying on a couch that was big enough for even her, looking at Fare. She wore fine silk clothing that seemed to flow over her body, covering her nearly entirely. For the most part. Fare felt a rather uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw that the woman's bust was rather exposed. It only doubled when she realized the sheer size of it, each one easily being bigger than her.

"Thou hast journeyed far, and overcome much, Chosen Undead. Come hither child," the woman spoke.

Forgetting her discomfort at the almost otherworldly gentle voice of the woman, Fare moved forward. A clink of metal on stone told her that Solaire was right behind her. He gasped in a voice that was equal part shock and joy. "Gwynevere. Daughter of Gwyn. Queen of Sunlight." Fare felt a jolt. She was in the presence of the Queen of Sunlight?

"Indeed I am," Gwynevere said gently, the two stopping in front of her. "Since the day Father his form did obscureth, I have await'd thee. I bequeath the Lordvessel to thee." From underneath the cushion she rested on, Gwynevere grasped a stone bowl that was nearly the size of Smough's hammer and placed it on the ground before Fare. "And beseech thee. Sucked Lord Gwyn and inheriteth the Fire of our world. Thou shall endeth this eternal twilight, and avert further Undead sacrifices.

Fare glanced at the Lordvessel. It certainly had the look of something important, but she had no idea how she was supposed to get it out of Anor Londo. "Bring the Lordvessel to Frampt. Worry not about its weight, for thou who touch the Lordvessel are bequeathed with a great gift," Gwynevere said, as if she could read Fare's mind. "Thou who touch the Lordvessel may travel through the bonfire to any other bonfire that has touched them, along with whomever touches them."

" _Well that_ _'_ _ll do it_ ," Fare thought, reaching out and gently touching the stone bowl, Solaire doing the same. It felt pleasantly warm, as if it gave off its own heat, and she could feel it spreading through the rest of her body. Even though her hand was protected by a gauntlet, she felt the warmth. "This gift," she said, looking up at the Queen of Sunlight, "how do I use it?"

"Reach into the bonfire and picture your destination in thine mind," Gwynevere said, smiling. "That is all. The Lordvessel will be vital to thine quest. Frampt will explain all you need know now that thou has it." Fare swallowed. She still wasn't quite sure if she was excited or panicking, but either way her hand on the Lordvessel was trembling.

She forced herself to take a deep breath. The Queen of Sunlight herself had given her her blessing. Not only did Gwynevere think she could do this, more importantly Gwynevere thought that the curse of the Undead could be removed. This could work. There was hope. Her quest wasn't impossible. As these thoughts filled her, her hand stopped shaking. Warm, comforting relief washed over her and she smiled. "Thank you," she whispered softly. Gwynevere just smiled.

"Solaire, do you mind helping me carry this back to the bonfire?" Fare asked.

"It would be my pleasure," the knight said. He had not said anything to Gwynevere, but he had spent the entire time beaming at her. Fare wondered for a minute if she was what he had meant by the sun he had been looking for. Maintaining eye contact certainly had similar results to looking at a sun, but she decided now wasn't the time to ask. Both of them grabbed one end of the Lordvessel, and with a great heave lifted it up over their heads.

It was much easier than Fare had been expecting. The Lordvessel wasn't light, but neither was it as heavy as she expected a stone bowl of its size to be. She and Solaire managed to get it outside of Gwynevere's throne room with ease, placing it down directly in front of the fire. "So, to Firelink Shrine?" Solaire asked.

Fare didn't answer, she was staring directly out of the window. The dark clouds she had seen earlier had come even closer. In the time it had taken them to meet Gwynevere, they were almost directly on top of the palace. They were fewer and smaller, as if they were dissipating like a real storm, but the few that remained were just as pitch black as they were before. "With haste," she replied. The two of them approached the fire, a wave of pleasant warmth washing over Fare as they did. The pain in her body from her fight with Ornstein faded away, and she glanced down, noting that her Estus flask had filled itself as she had expected.

"Very well," Solaire said, both of them taking the Lordvessel with one hand and reaching out to the bonfire with the other. However, the very second their hands reached the flame, a loud crack filled the palace. Fare snapped her head up to see a lightning bolt, the same consuming black as the clouds that it most likely came from, passing through the roof as if it wasn't there. Before Fare could blink, it had reached the ground, impacting on both the bonfire and the pair of outstretched hands. Fare could feel herself tipping over, the same as if she was falling off a cliff. Before she could register anything else, she was falling through darkness. Never-ending darkness.

Fear pounded through her. She didn't know what to do. Just as she felt like she was going to lose her nerve, she spotted a small light. The direction in which she was falling was bringing it closer. It grew closer and closer, until it was close enough to blind her. She slammed her eyes shut. Then opened them again. She wasn't in Anor Londo. She wasn't in Firelink Shrine either. She had no idea where she was.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Some of the obvious changes I made with this chapter are Solaire sticking with the main character, Ornstein and Smough talking, and there not being hostiles inside the palace. These changes all have one thing in common. They work all right in video games, but not in a written medium. Having no one be with you to help you ever and everything trying to attack you works in a video game, not so much in a written story where there needs to be more variety and character interaction. There can't be constant action and fighting. Solaire strikes me as the type of person who would want to stick with the Chosen Undead and I wanted to give some character to Smough and Ornstein.

Speaking of which, their duel not being to the death makes sense IMHO because they're supposed to help find the Chosen Undead. It'd be a devastating end to everything they were trying to accomplish if they made the Chosen Undead go Hollow by accident. That and a fight to the death would be a waste of talented warriors like Ornstein and Smough if they Chosen Undead ended up winning.

The Lordvessel granting the ability to travel from bonfire to bonfire to anyone who touches it isn't too far out there, it's never explained how you got that ability. Besides, in Dark Souls II anyone can do it, so the ability clearly isn't that special. The "And whoever touches you" was a necessary change for the crossover part of this story. The Abyss storms were also needed for that, and considering that it's been shown that the Abyss is both leaking into Lordran AND can transport you great distances across time and space, I thought it was golden for a crossover.

Ok, that's all the changes I can think of, be sure to let me know if I forgot anything. And let me know what you think of this new story.


	2. Arrival

Chapter 2

Arrival

Author's Note: Readers of my others story, From the Ashes, will know that I talked about concerns with feeling a lack of inspiration in my writing. Which I am glad to say I am feeling when I write this story. I feel alive for the first time in a long time. So this story is going to be my main focus for awhile. I'll keep working on From the Ashes but I'm putting it on the back burner for now because writing it was turning into a chore for me because of the burnout. Right, onto chapter 2.

XXXXX

Lucina stirred. She had been sitting in the back of a horse drawn carriage, lightly dozing as she rested her head against the wall. The carriage lurching to a stop jerked her out of it. "Wha?" she said groggily, rubbing her eyes. "We there?" She was wearing her usual dark blue armor and tunic, her hair the same color. Out of instinct, she felt for the golden hilt of Falchion, the unique holy sword that was her family's heirloom.

On the other side of the carriage, her father Chrom frowned. He wore his usual outfit, dark blue armor with a white cape. Although, for reasons she never quite understood, his armor didn't cover his right arm. To be fair, she had seen odder choices in armor. "We can't be," he said, grasping his own sword. Which was also Falchion. Technically the two swords were the same sword.

Five years ago, Lucina had traveled back in time in order to save her father and by extension the entire world from the Shadow Dragon known as Grima. During the trip, she had brought her father's sword, resulting in there being two of them. That wasn't the only thing that there was two of now. With no way back to her time (Though it had been such a miserable, war torn place and everyone she cared about had come back with her, Lucina didn't particularly miss it) she found herself living alongside her past self, who was now four.

Originally she had meant to slip away to let little Lucy (As she was now called) grow up without complication. Her mother, Robin, would hear none of it however. As such, she was introduced to the realm of Ylisse as a distant cousin of the royal family. Her brand of the Exalt, a birthmark unique to the Ylissen royalty, had made it a convincing story. Things had been less complicated for the friends that had accompanied her back, and though it was awkward for them to be around the same age as their parents, all of them had settled into semi-normal living arrangements.

Ever since the fall of Grima, two years after Lucina had arrived in the past, things had been quiet for the most part. There was still the occasional bandit attack, but it was a welcome change from the hordes of undead soldiers that Grima had commanded, or his religious followers. Two days ago however, a message had arrived from Tiki, the Voice of the Divine dragon Naga, Grima's opposite. She had visited the gate to the Outrealms, worlds outside theirs, and had noticed something odd. She said that she had not wanted to say too much in the letter in case it had been intercepted and had asked them to come in person to the gate. So she, her father and her aunt Lissa had set out.

Her aunt sat next to her in her yellow dress, and seemed to have been sleeping as well. "Aw, I was having a nice dream," she complained, stretching her arms above her head. "What's going on?"

"Forgive me M'lord," the driver of the carriage said. "There appears to be a storm of some kind up ahead. But…it's like no storm I've ever seen before." Curious, Lucina got up from her seat and slid the carriage door open, peeking her head out. There was indeed some kind of storm over a nearby village, but the clouds were otherworldly. Black as night, much like the thunderbolts they brought forth. It seemed to be dissipating, but the pitch black thunderbolts continued to strike the village.

"Should we see if everything is all right?" the carriage driver asked.

Chrom frowned, sticking his own head out of the carriage The village couldn't be more than five minutes away. "Yes," he said. "It's a small detour. It shouldn't be much of a problem. Tiki has already had to wait two days for us, I'm sure she won't mind if we have to take a few more hours to get there.

Lucina's hand tensed over the hilt of Falchion as closed the door to the carriage. It began to creek forward, heading to the village. "You don't think this is the work of the Grimleal do you?" Lisa asked, sounding slightly worried. "They're crazy enough to keep going even after they know that Grima is dead. Or maybe they just never realized he was dead in the first place. Hey, they're dumb enough."

Lucina chuckled. Her aunt always had a way of saying what was on her mind without restraint. "I don't think so, this doesn't look like anything they could conjure up," Chrom said cautiously. "That and, to be frank, we'd know if it was them. They're many things but subtle was never one of them. They would've tried to burn the town down before they created whatever those clouds were. No. I think that this is something different. I don't know what it is, but it's threatening the townspeople. So we're going to do what we do best."

Lissa grinned. "Beat the bad guys."

"If there are any," Chrom said. "It'd be nice if this was some magical experiment that just produced very weird looking results. Sadly I don't think we'd ever be that lucky." He let out a sigh. "Either way, we still need to make sure people are safe." Lucina nodded. The soldiers her father led didn't call themselves the Shepherds for nothing.

"We're here M'lord," the driver said. Lucina slid the door to the carriage open again, stepping out and drawing Falchion. Her aunt and father were right behind her, Chrom wielding his own Falchion and Lissa a staff in one hand and tomb in the other. They were just outside the town, which seemed oddly deserted. The clouds above gave one last feeble crack of lightning before disappearing like puffs of smoke.

"At least that's gone," Lucina said gratefully. "But where is everyone? It's the middle of the day, there should be at least a few people outside. As if to answer her question, someone screamed. A scream of terror and pain, coming from the center of the village. The three of them didn't need to look at each other, they all knew they were thinking the same thing. Without a word, they all broke into a run

A rather pleasant smell found its way to Lucina's nostrils, which proved to be a rather disorienting feeling when combined with her heart pounding. Eventually they found themselves in the center of the village. A feast had been laid out, a rather humble affair of soup, bread and a few roasts, but there was enough of it to feed the entire village. Tables and chairs had apparently been brought from all over the village for it. Tables and chairs that now were filled with bodies.

Lucina looked on in horror. At least two dozen people were lying dead at the feast tables. Some of them were still in their chairs, others were sprawled across the table. A few were a couple of feet away from the tables, lying face down in the grass. All of them were soaked in blood, wide open wounds in their bodies. There was another scream.

She snapped her head and saw a man crawling on the ground, an arrow sticking out of the back of his leg. "Please!" he sobbed. "Anyone! Help!" He was being chased. A figure in armor was right behind him, carrying a battered shield and spear. The figure seemed to stumble as it walked forward, moving slowly. It was undoubtly staring directly at the wounded man however, its spear outstreched.

Lucina didn't need to think. She darted forward, swinging Falchion in a single powerful stroke. The figure saw and attempted to react, but its actions were slow and sluggish. In the seconds before the blade connected with its throat, Lucina saw the figures face behind the half helm it wore. It was a man, or at least it had once been. His skin stretched tight over his skull, gaunt and sunken, a sickly shade of red. His expressions were sunken, to the point where his face could be mistaken for a skull at a distance. He looked like a corpse on its feet, the only thing indicating that it was still alive being its eyes. The seemed to glow, like a smoldering fire.

Lucina looked down at the head as it hit the ground. When she thought of walking corpses, Risen were the first thing that came to mind. This thing looked nothing like a Risen, which tended to be very dark and sometimes had a black aura around them. This creature she had slain looked like it had been mummified and moved much slower than any Risen she had known. What was it? Where had it come from?

"T-thank you," the man on the ground spluttered. "T-they came out of nowhere! We were wondering what those clouds were and those things just started killing us!"

"Hold still!" Lissa said, kneeling down next to the man. "I can heal this wound, but the arrow needs to come out first. Otherwise my magic will just close the wound around it."

"W-what about the others?" the man said. "A lot of them got away and ran. They headed for the church. We don't have any weapons though! If they-AGH!" The man screamed in horror. More of the shambling corpses were walking out of the gaps between the buildings. They looked horribly ramshackle. One or two were in full armor, but most only had a few pieces and some didn't even have that, wearing just a few tattered pieces of clothing. Nonetheless, all of them had weapons of some kind. Axes, swords and spears were all bared at them.

"Lucina," Chrom said quickly. "There could still be people alive at the church. Get there as fast as you can and save whoever is left. I'll stay here with your aunt so that she can treat this man. Quick!" Lucina didn't need to be told twice. She dashed forward, swiping at one of the corpses who had tried to lung at her, slicing his gut open. She weaved between the buildings, finding the corpses of a couple more villagers along the way.

Her heart sank as she saw all the dead. They were supposed to be living in peaceful times, yet it looked like the half of the village had been butchered when they had been trying to hold a feast. One of the corpses laid sprawled on the ground here or there, but for the most part the dead she passed were the villagers.

She spotted the church, a good story taller than the other buildings. It wasn't that far away, only a few houses were between her and her destination. Just as she realized this, a noise reached her. Clanging, the sound of metal hitting metal. "Is someone fighting back?" she whispered. That didn't make any sense. The man had said that the village didn't have any weapons. She rounded the last corner. In front of the church, two people in armor stood, both wielding shields and sword.

With a pang, she realized that at least a dozen of the walking corpses were swimming them and they were slowly being pushed back. They were now on the front steps of the church, slowly losing ground. A trio of spears thrust forward, one of the warriors attempted to block it with their shield but one got through. Lucina charged forward as she heard the warrior cry out in pain. Gritting her teeth she swung Falchion with all her might at the exposed backs of the corpses.

She tore through the torso of one, who quickly fell to the ground. Many of the other corpses turned to look at the noise, which proved to be their undoing. One of them had a sword thrust directly into its throat, where as another was stabbed so forcefully in the gut that the tip of the sword came out of his back.

The next minute was a blur to Lucina as she viciously swung Falchion at the corpses. She found herself constantly moving, trying to desperately stay out of arms reach of the corpses before swinging again. The two warriors had broken through the line of corpses and were doing the same, their swords constantly swinging as they maneuvered and dodged. After what seemed like a very long time, all of the corpses were dead. Lucina panted, looking down at the pile of bodies that she and the other two had managed to create.

"Thank you." Lucina looked at the warriors. Their armor was like nothing she had ever seen before, one having an odd symbol of the sun painted on while the other had blue and gold cloth stretched over the chest plate. "They were slowly overwhelming us," the one with the sun on his chest said. "We might have been able to win, but that's not a chance I would've been happen to take."

"Are there any villagers nearby?" Lucina asked, hastily looking around. She couldn't see any, yet she couldn't see any bodies either.

"They barricaded themselves in there," the other warrior said in a somewhat gruff but noticeably feminine voice. "They were like that when we got here, we got caught up in the fighting before we even knew what was going on." She let out a tired sigh. "No one to act as guards. Looks like these people were never expecting the Hollows to come here."

"Hollows?" Lucina said. "Is that what those things were?"

The woman looked at Lucina, as if she had just asked a very strange question. "Yes. People who have been consumed by the Darksign."

"The what?" Lucina asked. Before she could get an answer however, there was a loud snarling noise. She looked just in time to see a pair of dogs, unhealthy thin and with dirty matted fur, charge out from behind a nearby house. That was not the most pressing concern however. What made Lucina's eyes widen in terror was the massive figure that was right behind them.

The two dogs were on the woman before she could properly react. A jaw closed around each leg and she recoiled backward, off balance. Before she could recover, the large figure was upon her. In each hand it held a sword just as long as Lucina, and it swung both of them in unison. Time seemed to slow down as Lucina watched what happened in utter horror. The force of the two blades ripped through the side of the woman, not slowing down in the slightest as it tore through the armor. A second later, the blade broke free and the woman fell. She had been completely bisected. She was silent as the two halves of her body hit the ground, before, to Lucina's horror and confusion, both parts exploded into a cloud of ash.

She forced herself to focus as the dogs pounced, one of them heading for her. Timing her blow just right, she swung Falchion into the dog's side and sent it flying into a wall, its body limp. She glanced to the side to see the surviving warrior pulling his sword out of the top of the other dog, which wasn't moving.

With both dogs dead, Lucina turned her attention to the figure. It almost looked human in some ways, but its face was anything but. It was twisted and narrow, a sickly yellow color with bright red pinpricks for eyes, and pure black horns on either side. "Capra Demon," she heard the warrior whisper.

The Capra Demon eyed the two of them, hands tightening on both of its blades. Lucina eyed them warily. With a single blow those weapons had managed to cleave straight through full plate armor. "Go to the right, I'll go to the left," she whispered to the other warrior. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. The two of them moved in different directions, weapons at the ready as they started to encircle the demon. It must have realized what they were trying to do, as its head jerked back and forth between the two of them before lunging at Lucina.

It brought the first blade down with an overhead strike, one that Lucina barely sidestepped before she lunged forward. She drove Falchion into the Capra Demon's chest, tearing through its bare flesh, but the demon didn't react to the wound at all. Instead roaring or even flinching, its small red eyes looked down, focusing on her. She pulled her sword back out just as the demon swung his second blade, this one horizontally. Lucina swung Falchion around, barely getting it between her and the giant weapon. Falchion was unbreakable, which kept the demon from tearing into her, but the force of the blow still slammed her into the wall of the church.

Lucina grit her teeth and willed herself to fight through the pain throbbing in her body. The Capra Demon held both of its blades together, raising them up and preparing to strike. Lucina was weighing her options of putting some distance between the two of them and attacking when the sun warrior darted at the demon from the side, slashing at its right arm. The demon whirled around, blood spewing from the deep wound on its arm that had been left, swinging both of its blades at its new attacker. The sun warrior raised his wooden shield and took the attack head on, but the sheer force of the blow that impacted him knocked him off of his feet.

Lucina spotted white in the open gash and realized that the warrior's blade had hit bone. Not wanted to risk another attack to the torso that the demon might not register, she charged at the arm, bringing Falchion down on the gash. The demon had been moving to attack the sun warrior while he was down, and had its back to her when she attacked. The blow cut deep into the arm, a sickening cracking noise of breaking bone filling Lucina's ears as she raised Falchion and struck again. The blade tore through the bone and the flesh that was left, and she enjoyed a small moment of satisfaction as the demon's right arm fell to the ground.

Unlike the chest wound, however, the demon reacted to this. A roar of rage erupted from its mouth as it spun to face Lucina, wildly swinging its remaining arm and blade. Lucina hastily stepped back, blocking the blows with Falchion as best she could. The strikes were not as powerful as the one that had sent her into a wall, yet they were still strong enough to make her afraid that the next one would send Falchion flying out of her hands. The Capra Demon swung his blade the way most men wielded short swords, yet every time their blades clashed, the force was so strong Lucina felt as if her shoulders would be ripped out of their sockets.

Then, one blow knocked her blow too far to the side for it to get in position for the next one. An overhead strike came down, and Lucina threw herself to the side to get out of the way. She only mostly made it. She had to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming as the demon's sword sliced through the edge of her left leg, causing her to overbalance.

She hit the grass, eyes watering in pain, and saw the demon advancing on her. She tried to pull herself to her feet, but when she tried to put weight on her bad leg, she yelped as she felt a spasm of pain and fell to her knees. The demon was upon her then, swinging its blade down to decapitate her. Lucina did the only thing that she could and rolled towards the demon, the giant sword burying itself in the ground where she had been seconds ago.

With as much force as she could from her position, she hacked into the back of one of the demon's ankles. It stumbled like she had and fell to one knee. Lucina was frantically trying to think how she was going to follow up that move when the sun warrior appeared in her field of vision, charging at the demon. His sword found its mark in the demon's throat, the edge cutting it wide open. The demon growled, or rather gurgled as it tried to stand up and strike back.

Lucina noticed that the demon was trying to put its weight on the leg she hadn't injured. Pushing herself up onto her uninjured knee, she gripped Falchion in both hands and thrust downward. The demon's ankle was torn open, causing it to stumble once again as the sun warrior swung again. With the wound he had already made, the sun warrior's sword dug deeper into the demon's throat until it was stuck halfway through. The demon did not reply to this. It stared directly straight ahead, its beady eyes blank, until it slowly began to tilt forward and fall to the ground. A silver streak flew out of it as it did, fading into the sun warrior's chest.

Lucina gasped in pain, leaning against the wall of the church and looking down at her leg. A good chunk of it was missing, exposing a few tendons and even a bit of bone. She fought back the urge to vomit as she looked at it. She had to act fast. "My aunt is back the direction I came from," the said to the sun warrior hastily. "She's a healer. Please, go get her and bring her back, I need her to take care of my leg."

Instead of doing that, the sun warrior instead sheathed his sword and knelt down in front of Lucina, taking out what looked like a small talisman. She was about to shout at him when a bright golden light emanated from the talisman, engulfing it and her leg. The pain in her leg vanished, and in a few seconds the light faded away. Looking down, she saw that her leg had completely healed. "Thank you," she said in amazement, standing up and testing the leg. It didn't even ache.

"We both helped each other a great deal just now," the sun warrior said warmly, getting to his feet. "Alone, we most likely would've perished against the Capra Demon. I've fought one of their number before, they're dreadfully powerful beasts. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Solaire of Astora."

Lucina blinked. She had never heard of a land called Astora before. Some distant kingdom maybe? "Lucina," she replied, sheathing Falchion as she did. At Solaire's words about perishing, Lucina felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry about your friend," she said. "I wish I could've done something."

"Oh, it's no worry," Solaire said cheerfully. "I know Fare. She's been through worse. It'll be tough to recover from but she'll do it like she always does."

Lucina wanted to hug Solaire. " _The poor man is in denial_ ," she thought. " _He thinks that she's just hurt and that she'll spring right back_." She didn't have the heart to break it to him that he would never see his friend again. "Are the villagers all right?" she asked. "Nothing happened during the fight?"

"I don't think so," Solaire said. He ascended the handful of steps to the church and rapped on the door. "Hello! All you all right in there? It should be safe to come out now!"

"Go away!" a terrified voice shouted back. "If we open the door, they'll get us! They'll get us all!"

"Ah," Solaire said, taking a few steps back and glancing at Lucina. "They seem to be in a state of panic. It might be for the best if we give them time to calm down."

"My father was fighting a few more of those Hollows in the center of the village. They were spread out so I think he could've handled them without too much trouble. Aside from those, are there anymore nearby?" Lucina asked.

Solaire paused for a second before shaking his head. "I'm certain the majority of them were gathered here at the church. They are drawn to humans after all, they wouldn't just wander aimlessly around when there were so many concentrated here."

Lucina nodded. She had to take Solaire's word for it, having no experience of her own with these Hollows. "Still, I would like to head back to make sure my father is safe."

"Allow me to accompany you," Solaire said cheerfully. "In times like these, it is always good to have a friendly sword nearby."

Lucina gave a weak smile. "I can't argue with that." On that note, the two of them began to make their way back to the center of the village. Lucina found herself staring at the bodies of the villagers as she passed them a second time. "Where did those Hollows even come from?" she asked. "Why did they slaughter all these people?"

"I'm afraid I don't know myself," Solaire said. "I'm not even sure how Fare and I came to be here. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for those dark clouds."

"Dark clouds?" Lucina asked. "There were some here, just now! They were over the village before we got here."

"There were?" Solaire said, sounding surprised. "Hm. Very interesting. I cannot say what it could mean just yet, but it gives me ideas." As he spoke, the two of them reached the clearing with the feast tables. Half a dozen Hollows lay dead on the ground and Chrom and Lissa were standing over the wounded villager, whom they had laid out on one of the tables.

"The others!" the man said, snapping into a sitting position as Lucina neared. "Are they all right?"

"There's a large group that's barricaded themselves in the church," Lucina said reassuringly. "They won't come out there."

The man sighed in relief. "Thank Naga."

"Your leg should be fine," Lissa said, looking over the now fully healed leg with a close eye. "Still, after what you've been through you should probably take it easy for different reasons."

"Lucina, who's that?" Chrom asked.

"Solaire," Lucina answered. "He helped me fight off the Hollows in front of the church, that's what these things are called."

"Pleasure to meet you," Solaire said politely. "I-" his attention trailed off as he spotted something. "Ah, perfect. Forgive my rudeness sir, but there is something I must attend to." He strode to the feast table, behind Chrom and Lissa. There, a fair distance away, was a dimly crackling fire with a rusty sword embedded in the middle. Solaire sat down directly in front of it, legs crossed, and took his helmet off.

"Was that always there?" Lissa asked. "Were the townspeople trying to have fried longsword?"

"I've never seen that before," the villager said, looking at it.

"Uh, Solaire, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you're doing exactly?" Chrom asked, sounding very confused.

"Oh, my good friend Fare should be back soon," Solaire said matter of factly. "I want to greet her, she'll most likely have been through a lot."

Lucina bit her lip. She had to tell him, otherwise he might sit in front of that little fire all day waiting for a dead woman. Slowly approaching Chrom, she whispered "Father. He's lost a friend. Please, just let me talk to him." Her father's eyes widened, but he only nodded. She walked across the clearing to Solaire, wondering how to approach this delicate situation. Reaching him, she hesitated before putting a hand on his shoulder. "Solaire," she said. "I know what it feels like to see someone you care about die." She was about to continue, but the rest of the words died in her mouth.

Something was flickering in front of the tiny fire. It quickly grew until it eclipsed the fire itself within seconds, becoming a shimmering ball of flame. Lucina's first thought was to try and run and find some water before the unthinkable happened. An armored hand reached out. It grabbed a handful of the grass and gave a mighty tug. A person came out of the fire, using the grass as an anchor to pull themselves forward before falling flatly on the grass. The armored person panted heavily and desperately as the inferno disappeared, leaving only the small fire. Lucina's mind went blank. It was the woman she had seen cut in half mere minutes ago.

"Solaire," she croaked, her voice dry and raspy. "Humanity. Please." As she spoke, she desperately fumbled with her helmet and unlatched it. Another shock crashed over Lucina as she saw Fare's face. The same red raw skin, the same sunken facial expressions and the same dimly glowing eyes as the Hollows. Without a helmet obstructing her sight, she also spotted short filthy hair, some of which looked like it had been singed off. Her hand gripped Falchion's hilt, but paused when Solaire reached into a pouch and produced, not a weapon, but a strange speck. It seemed to be entirely black at first, but as she stared she noticed that it had a rather eerie looking white outline around it.

Fare took the speck and crushed it in the palm of her hand. Almost instantaneously, she changed. The telltale signs of a Hallow disappeared as if they had been wiped away by a cloth. Her skin turned from red to a very deep but healthy looking brown, her singed hair became short and black, although rather messy, the sunken features were replaced with rough chiseled ones, and the glowing eyes were replaced by those of dull amber.

Fare panted, pulling herself into a sitting position. "Did you kill it?" she asked. Solaire nodded. "Good, I don't think I could stand another fight with that thing," she said sourly. "That one was pure misery, just like its brother in Undeadburg. It's those dogs they always seem to have around. They get one good bite in and it just finishes you off with one stroke." She ground her teeth. "Little bastards."

Lucina found her voice. "How?" she rasped. "I saw you die. How are you here?"

Fare looked at Lucina, blinking in confusion. "You don't know?" she asked. " I thought you might just have a different word for Hollows around here, but you really don't know about the Undead?" Lucina shook her head. "That can't be," Fare whispered in disbelief. She grabbed the gauntlet on her right hand, pulling it off and showing her bare palm to Lucina. "Does this mean anything to you? You must have seen it, no matter how isolated your kingdom would be, you must know what this is."

Lucina stared at the woman's hand. There was a circle there, which seemed to wave back and forth, as if drawn by someone with a shaky hand. Despite this, the lines that would normally look crooked matched up perfectly, making the circle look perfect in a way. It seemed to be glowing on her skin, a red thin line. "What is that?"

"The Darksign," Fare said. She lowered her palm and looked at it, dumbstruck. "How could anyone not know what the Darksign is?" She shook her head. "Do you have a map? Those clouds brought us here. Solaire and I don't actually know where we are. Could you show us? We must've traveled to the other side of the world if you don't know what the Darksign is."

Lucina looked over her shoulder, but Lissa had already heard. She brought a worn brown map of the world and laid it out in front of Fare. Lucina looked down at it, her eyes flying to Valm. It was possible that something had happened there and word hadn't made its way to Ylisee yet. That would make sense. "We're here," Lucina said, shifting her eyes back to Ylisse, pressing her finger on the southern part of the continent. "Where are you from?"

She looked up. Instead of Fare's eyes moving to Valm like Lucina had expected, her eyes went blank. "What is this?" she mumbled, sounding lost. "I don't recognize anything. Where's the Great Swamp? Where's Lordran? The Asylum?"

"What are you talking about?" Lucina asked. She could feel her mind ache as she tried to understand this situation. Nothing that either of these two had talked about made any sense. They kept bringing up things and places that Lucina had never heard of and couldn't possible exist. "There's no Great Swamp."

"This isn't right," Fare said, sounding as if she was deep in thought. "One moment." She reached onto her back and saw that a moderate sized wooden box was hanging there. Judging by the way that she easily unlatched it and placed it on the ground with one hand, it was very light. Lucina just thinking that the box couldn't hold much when Fare undid the latch and opened it, plunging her hand into the box far deeper than it should realistically have allowed. It couldn't be more than a few inches tall, yet Fare's arm disappeared into it up to her shoulder. "Where did I put it," she muttered. "Ah, here it is." She withdrew her hand, pulling a yellowed, wrinkled and slightly torn piece of paper.

Smoothing it out, Fare placed her map next to Lissa's. Lucina's eyes fell upon it. The words of places she didn't know covered it. Astora, Carim, Vinheim, Lordran, Oolacile. Her gazed lingered on the last one. At first glance it looked like someone had spilled ink all over it, but the entire country had been filled with a solid black mass with no noticeable splotches. It looked to be intentional, as the filling stopped at the borders to the country and not so much as a drop went beyond.

Lucina finally understood why Fare had looked so confused as she examined the map. Her map and Lissa's map were completely different, they didn't have a single thing in common. Lissa gaped at the maps. "Please tell me Chrom packed a fake map as a joke," she said.

Lucina shook her head. "I've seen this map a hundred times, it's the real one." She rubbed the side of her head.

"Then how?" Fare asked, "How is this possible? Where are we?"

"I think I have an idea," Chrom said, approaching the group. "I think you might have stumbled into a different Outrealm." Chrom pressed on, seeing the confused expression on Fare's face. "Outrealms are worlds onto themselves. In a way, they're different possibilities, different paths that the world could've taken. A lot of the Outrealms that we've been to have been similar to our own world, but them being radically different is perfectly possible."

Fare leaned back, looking dazed. "Is any of this even possible?" she asked.

"I think it is," Solaire said. For some reason he didn't sound as overwhelmed by this as Fare did, thought he did sound a little shaken. "Remember what I told you when we first met? Time is convoluted in Lordran. It seems that space is as well now."

"The Abyss," Fare said, understanding dawning on her face. "That's how this happened." She leaned forward. "Did you see anything out of the ordinary around this village?"

"She did," Solaire said. "She saw the same dark clouds that were hovering over Anor Londo. She told me. It seems that you're right, the Abyss is what brought us here. It most likely is what brought the Hollows and the Capra Demon here as well."

Fare grimaced. "That means that those storms of Abyss aren't just in Anor Londo. How fast is it spreading?"

"Hold on, Abyss?" Lucina asked.

"A force of darkness, pure concentrated darkness," Fare said. "It's been threatening our…well our world I suppose for as long as we can remember. Lord Gwyn was the second strongest of the Lords who defeated the Everlasting Dragons long ago, and he was terrified of it. So much that he sacrificed an entire city to stop it." She pressed down on her map, pointing out a city named New Anor Londo. Lucina saw that, like Oolacile, it had been filled with ink. "The rulers of New Anor Londo tried to master the Abyss, and its servants threatened to overwhelm the city. Fearing it couldn't be stopped with soldiers, Lord Gwyn had the city flooded."

"Gods," Chrom swore. "He sacrificed his own people? How could he?"

Solaire shook his head sadly. "The powers of the Abyss are beyond comprehension. I do not agree with what Gwyn did, but I cannot think of any other way that he could've ensured that the Abyss did not spread from New Anor Londo. The sad truth that the New Anor Londo incursion of the Abyss was the first of two incidents, and it was easily the much tamer one."

"You're talking about Oolacile aren't you?" Lucina asked, pointing it out on the map.

"Noticed that I see," Fare said. "Yes. Gwyn was able to contain the spread of the Abyss to New Anor Londo by flooding it, a great tragedy and hardly something to be proud of, but he spared all of Lordran from Oolacile's fate. It consumed the entire land, the entire civilization from being wiped out. Gwyn sent one of his greatest champions, Artorias the Abysswalker, to contain it." She let out a bitter sigh. "Artorias fell in Oolacile. No one really knows what happened to him there, only that he never came back. And he was present at New Anor Londo, he managed to keep the Abyss at bay until it was flooded."

"But then, what stopped the Abyss in Oolacile?" Lissa asked.

"Gwyn claimed that Artorias vanquished it with his dying breath," Solaire said. "But I have a hard time believing that. I cannot say why, it simply doesn't feel right."

"Where did this thing even come from?" Lucina asked, her head straining under the weight of everything that she was absorbing.

"We don't know where, but we do know why," Fare said. She pointed to the crackling fire. "These bonfires aren't ordinary fires. They're linked to the First Flame. The flame where the Lords found our power, and life was birthed from." She swallowed. "The First Flame is dying. The bonfires are dying. When they grew weak is when the Abyss first appeared. Before the fall of the Everlasting Dragons, there wasn't light but there wasn't darkness either. It's possible the Abyss came into existence alongside the First Flame. It's been threatening our world ever since. And now, it seems to be threatening your world." She lowered her head in shame. "I'm so sorry," she said sincerely.

"Wait, why are you apologizing?" Lissa asked. "You didn't exactly set it on us."

"Uh," Fare said. She went slightly red in the face as she spoke. "You see…how do I put this lightly?"

"She was chosen by a prophecy to take the place of Lord Gwyn and bring order back to the world. She's the Chosen Undead," Solaire said simply.

Fare went even redder in the face. "Yes. That," she said. "But you don't know what Undead or Hollows are do you?" Lucina, Chrom and Lissa all shook their heads. "They're people who have been branded with the Darksign, what I showed you on my hand. We don't know where they came from, but the Abyss is the most likely explanation. Those with the Darksign can't die, they're forced to come back when they die."

Lucina didn't say anything. Not being able to die didn't sound like much of a curse, but Fare's body language said otherwise. Her hands were tightening into fists and her facial expressions look strained, as if she wanted to scream in anger and cry at the same time. "It's a horrible experience, to come back," she said. "You have to pull yourself back. Every step of the way feels like your flesh is being torn off, or burned off, I can never remember clearly. And pulling just makes the pain worse. Undead like me have to go through this every time we die, until the pain just becomes too much and we give up."

A look of fear slid across her face. "An Undead who gives up, who doesn't pull when they die, becomes a Hollow. Their sanity is destroyed, who they were is gone, they just exist as a walking corpse. They attack everyone they see, searching for Humanity on instinct, even though it doesn't do them any good. Oh right, you wouldn't know. Humanity is what Solaire gave me, it allows Undead to become human again until they die. It makes the pull easier."

Lucina sat there, shocked by what she had just heard. "How do you stand it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Fare answered honestly. "I just tell myself that I need to keep going, that I have a mission." She swallowed. "Every time I'm afraid. Afraid that I'll slip, that I'll just get tired of the pain. But I need to keep going. I just have to."

Solaire put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The five of them were silent. "Now what?" Lissa asked.

"I think I have a hunch about what Tiki wanted to talk to us about," Chrom said. "It's probably to do with this Abyss." He looked at Solaire and Fare. "We've dealt with threats that could've destroyed the entire world before and one of our friends might already know something about the Abyss. Maybe we could work together to stop this."

"Ah! An excellent idea!" Solaire said brightly. "We need as many allies as we can get. Thank you very much for the kind offer."

Fare interjected. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she said hesitantly. "I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful for the offer, but I'm not sure it'd be safe for any of you. I've died dozens if not hundreds of times on my journeys to fulfill the prophecy. And while the Darksign makes coming back a miserably painful experience, I CAN come back. None of you have it. One slip and you're gone for good. And Lordran is like something out of a nightmare. There are barely any sane people left. It's overrun with Hollows, demons and other monsters that lurk around every corner."

Lucina couldn't help but feel that this sounded eerily familiar. It sounded a little too much like the future that she had come from. "I'm sorry, but it'd be selfish of me to ask you to risk your lives in our fight," Fare said.

"It's not exactly just your fight anymore," Lucina said. "Those things attacked and killed our people too, we're involved in it now."

"Which is why it'd be for the best if you stayed here where you have numbers and familiarity," Fare argued. "You need to defend your home."

"Fare," Solaire said. "We need all the help we can get. You should at least consider it."

"And if you fail, there's no one left at all to stop this," Chrom said. "Helping you will be protecting our home."

"It's still risky," Fare said, sounding uncertain. "There's so much you don't know about Lordran."

"Well, you can tell us," Lissa said.

"At the very least come with us to see our friend," Lucina said. "She's the voice of Naga, the goddess of this world.

Fare paused. "Voice of the Goddess," she said. "Well, there's no excuse for not listening to her."

"So, you're going to let us help you?" Lissa asked eagerly.

"I'll…think about it," Fare said. "Solaire, where did we hide the Lordvessel again?"

"I remember where," he said. "Do you mind if we take a little bit of cargo along for the trip?"

"We have some room in the carriage," Lucina said. There was still so much that she didn't understand. She didn't know what they were talking about when they brought up Lords and souls and Everlasting Dragons among other things, but there was one thing she did understand. Their world was in danger, and the danger was starting to threaten the world her family and friends lived in. Both reasons were reason enough to want to help, both made it a necessity. There would be time later to understand the finer details.

"If we go back to Lordran, we're going to have to come back here," Fare said. "Solaire and I can travel from bonfire to bonfire. This one must've been brought here along with us. Might be a whole bonfire or could just be part of one. I'm not sure." She got to her feet. "We'll be right back, we need to get something important we brought with us." The two of them began to head off. Just before the two of them were out of earshot, Lucina heard them talk.

"You said Gwyn was the second most powerful Lord, that's not how I heard the legend," Solaire said.

"Well the way I always heard it, the Mother of Fire, the Witch of Izalith was the strongest Lord," Fare said.

Solaire chuckled. "I suppose people have biases when it comes to the Lord they favor the most."

Lucina glanced at her father, smiling weakly. "Never a dull day in our lives."

XXXXX

Author's Note: It was never established in detail how going Hollow works or how Humanity stops it. I think the idea of coming back to life being horribly physically painful and having to fight through it was a good way to represent the "Can never give up" concept behind avoiding going Hollow. Humanity making it easier I find works as well. I also think Lord Gwyn would want to keep Artorias falling to the Abyss quiet to avoid panic and I doubt there would be too many eye witnesses to the fact who wouldn't report directly to him.

If I missed anything that needs explanation, please let me know.


	3. Looming Terror

Chapter 3

Looming Terror

Author's Note: Well, here we go.

XXXXX

Fare felt her chest clench. She had seen carriages from a distance a few times. Nearby nobles that had visited the Great Swamp always came in carriages. She remembered that they tended to get stuck in the mud, much to the anger of the nobles. She let out a small chuckle before her stomach clenched up again. With the way the nobles had cursed when they had been forced to walk, she had thought that they must be comfortable and pleasant. She had never thought that they would feel so awful.

She was sitting in the back of the carriage that their new friends owned, who had offered her and Solaire a ride. She was starting to wish she had said no. Her body was shaking and she felt like she was going to be sick. Reaching down, she grabbed the hilt of her blade, reassuringly stroking it. It made her feel slightly better, but the bile in her stomach was still there.

"Are you all right?" Fare looked up at the woman sitting across from her. She was the only person in the carriage apart from Lucina and Solaire on the far end, Chrom and Lissa having moved to up front with the driver due to the lack of room. Fare glanced at the giant Lordvessel in Solaire's lap that had caused said lack of space and felt a pang of embarrassment before looking back at the woman.

She had long flowing green hair and oddly pointed ears. She also wore a red dress that Fare had never seen the likes of before, which was short enough to present a rather ample bosom. Fare felt a sliver on comfortableness that had nothing to do with the carriage. "I'm sorry, did I say something?" the woman asked.

This was Tiki, the woman that Chrom, Lucina and Lissa had been on their way to meet. Their stop at this Outrealm Gate where she had been had been short. Only a few words had been spoken before they were back in the carriage, heading back to the village that had been attacked by the Undead. Tiki had said that she had had a theory on what was happening, but that she wanted to see the village first hand before making any conclusions. "Never been in a carriage before," Fare said weakly. "I think I prefer walking. There's no room in here."

"I don't like them much myself. I prefer flying personally," Tiki said kindly.

Fare's mind came to a halt as she processed what she had just heard. "Flying?" she asked hesitantly, certain that she had misheard. Either that or it had been an experience similar to those two times that giant crow had carried her. Though considering both times had made her sick, she wondered how that could possibly be preferable.

"Oh, Chrom didn't tell you?" she asked. She held up a bright green orb that was hanging around her neck by a chain. "I'm a Manakete. I can turn into a dragon. I need to use this Dragonstone to use it though." She looked nervously at Fare. "Do you have anything like Manaketes where you're from?"

"Not exactly," Fare said, looking at the Dragonstone with interest. "The Everlasting Dragons all died a long time ago. The only dragons left are wyverns. Compared to the powerful and intelligent Everlasting Dragons, wyverns are little more than beasts. Though some people say a few descendants of the Everlasting Dragons still survive." She shook her head. "I've never heard of anyone turning into a dragon though. Sounds like something some more desperate sorceries might research though."

"Well, there aren't very many Manaketes either," Tiki said. "We live a very long time, and don't breed very much. But could you tell me more about these Everlasting Dragons? Why aren't they around anymore?"

"If you promise to tell me more about Manaketes," Fare said, the conversation making her forget about the lurching feelings in her stomach.

Tiki smiled. "Well, you're the guest in this world, so I'll go first. For the record, in this world, Manaketes and dragon are interchangeable terms for the most part. There used to be more Manaketes, but most of us died in wars. Some of them were with Humans but just as many were among each other. I think there might be small isolated communities of Manaketes left, but the few who are left live among Humans. Thankfully the two live in peace most of the time, though sometimes there are killings on both sides. One of the greatest tribes of Manaketes were the Divine Dragons. I'm part of that tribe, as is Naga."

Fare tilted her head to the side in confusion, wondering who Naga was. Tiki noticed. "She used to be leader of the Divine Dragons back when they were still strong, but now she mainly watches over Humans, guiding them and protecting them. I act as her voice. The people of this land actually worship her as a god, even though she claims that she isn't." She let out a soft chuckle. "I suppose it's a compliment, to have people show your appreciation for you in such a great way."

Fare chuckled as well. "I'd be rather embarrassed by it. Oh Mother of Fire, I'm already embarrassed being called the Chosen Undead." Tiki blinked in a puzzled manner. "I'll explain when we're done with this," Fare promised. "Please, keep going. I'd like to know more about Naga."

"Right. Well, Naga is famous for many things. The biggest would probably be Chrom's sword Falchion, which was forged from one of Naga's fangs. His daughter Lucina uses the same blade. But she also forged Fire Emblem, a shield to go be wielded with Falchion to unlock it's true power. It was used to finally defeat Grima, the Fell Dragon that wanted to cover the world in darkness."

" _Cover the world in darkness. That sounds a little familiar,_ " Fare thought dryly. "So I take it that's one of your ancient legends? This Grima?"

"Oh no, Grima was only defeated three years ago," Tiki said. "It was a rather frightening time. He had entire armies at his beck and call, cultists who worshiped him and dead warriors that rose to fight for him."

" _This sounds REALLY familiar,"_ Fare thought. It was actually a little unnerving how much this Grima made her think of the Darksign and the Abyss. "Wait. Are you saying that Chrom killed a dragon that tried to destroy the world?"

"Partially," Tiki said. "He and Lucina scored a dozen blows each. But it was Robin, Chrom's wife and Lucina's mother, who delivered the killing blow. Anything less wouldn't have killed Grima, but sealed him away for 1,000 years. See, Robin was of Grima's blood."

Fare blinked. "I beg your pardon?" she said dumbly.

"Her father was the head of the cult that worshiped Grima," Tiki explained. "He fashioned his daughter to be the vessel of Grima, but her mother took her and ran. Eventually she found Chrom and joined his army, killing her father and Grima in the process." Tiki swallowed and she looked rather distressed. "It almost killed her. They were linked, so in a way she was almost killing herself. By some miracle she survived though."

"And all of this only happened three years ago?" Fare asked. Tiki nodded. "Impressive. Well I suppose it's my turn." She adjusted herself in her seat, digging for the old memories of what she had been told as a child. "The Everlasting Dragons ruled the world in the Age of Ancients. The world hadn't been formed yet, it was rocky and fog. They ruled over that land. Then, we don't know where from, but fire was born. A massive fire, the First Flame, that drew the tiny beings that had lived under the rule of the dragons, not worthy of their attention."

Tiki politely folded her hands in front of her, looking on with interest. It felt very odd to be explaining something that should be common knowledge, but Fare couldn't deny that she enjoyed it very much. After being in the dark on so many matters, it felt very good to share knowledge where she had more expertise. As such, she couldn't help but explain it in a slightly dramatic manner. "In the fire, there were souls, far brighter than any soul before or since, the Lord Souls."

"There were three in total," Fare said. "The Witch of Izalith, the Mother of Fire, and her daughters of Chaos took one. Gwyn and his faithful knights the second. And Nito, the First of the Dead, took the third. They used the power the Lord Souls gave them to challenge the rule of the Eternal Dragons. Even though the Mother of Fire and Nito wielded powerful magic, and Gwyn's army outnumbered the dragons, they still took heavy losses. However, one of the dragons betrayed his kin. Seath the Scaleless. With his help, the Eternal Dragons were slain to the last one."

Tiki looked rather horrified. "He betrayed his entire race? Helped them all be slaughtered? Why would he do that?"

Fare shrugged. "No one knows for sure. Some say it's because Seath was jealous. That the stone scales of the Eternal Dragons were what gave them their immortality. Others say the dragons abused Seath, treated him like an outcast and a lesser being for not having scales. Either way, he had enough hate in him to turn to the side of the Lords." Fare scrapped her seat with her armored hand. This was turning a little more awkward than she had intended. She had been trying to impress Tiki, not horrify her.

"Whatever Seath's reasons were, he didn't share them with the rest of the Lords," Fare said, trying to move the conversation away from Seath's betrayal. "Still, he was treated well by them. Gwyn made Seath a duke for his services and granted him a castle. He even gifted him a shard of his own Lord Soul. In a sense, he made Seath an honorary Lord. With that, there were Four Lords. The four Lords that gave birth to the Age of Fire. In the Age of Ancients there was no civilization, there was only endless rocky plains. The Lords put an end to that, and under their watch, countless cities, kingdoms and societies were born."

Tiki looked impressed, or at the very least like she had moved on from Seath and the hand he had played in genocide. "Naga still watches over the people of this land. I take it your Lords do the same."

Fare felt all of the excitement she had felt drain out of her. "I'd like to think some of them do. But…I've been told I'm supposed to succeed Gwyn, so apparently he's unable to rule anymore. I haven't been told why though, but Gwyn isn't in the capital city and his army is in ruins. Seath has apparently gone mad and hides away in his castle. No one knows anything about Nito, and the Mother of Fire and her daughters have-" Fare stopped mid sentence.

Her entire body clenched up and Tiki faded from her sight. She wasn't in the carriage anymore, she was in a dark rocky cavern. An upside down head was in front of her, clinging to its neck by a thin sliver of flesh. It smiled a twisted smile at her. "Murderer."

"Fare? FARE!" Everything came rushing back. She had slumped back into her seat. She could feel tears running down her cheeks. There was a horrible feeling in her stomach. A feeling of complete and utter emptiness. Tiki was standing over her, her eyes wide and her hands on Fare's shoulders. "What happened?" Tiki asked with concern, stepping back as Fare sat back up. "You just collapsed in your seat. I heard some odd gurgling noises. Are you ok?"

Fare instinctively reached to wipe the tears away, only for her hand to be stopped with a soft clank. She was still wearing her helmet, with the visor down. Tiki hadn't seen her tears. Fare looked at the Manakete woman. "I…" she said hesitantly. She couldn't. She couldn't tell Tiki. She couldn't tell anyone. How was she supposed to admit that she had committed deicide? Not just to Tiki, but to anyone. Even Solaire. "I'm sorry, it's the carriage," Fare lied. "I'm not good with enclosed spaces. They make me feel nervous." The last part was true enough.

"Do you need a drink? Lucina, where do you keep your waterskins?" Tiki asked, glancing at the blue haired warrior. Fare realized at that point that both Solaire and Lucina were looking in their direction. She spoke before Lucina could open her mouth.

"No, that's ok. I haven't had to eat or drink for some time now. The Bonfires and Estus sustain me," she said. " _Why did I let this happen?_ " she thought. The horrible empty feeling was still in her stomach, but it was joined by anger at herself. " _Why did you even mention the daughters of the Mother of Fire_? _What right do YOU of all people have to talk about them?_ "

"You don't?" Lucina asked, sounding surprised.

Solaire nodded. "The Bonfires gave us everything. The strength to carry on without food is surprisingly one of its more mundane accomplishments."

"Anyway, like I was saying," Fare said, looking back at Tiki. "The Mother of Fire and her daughters are a mystery, like Nito no one knows where they are. You'll forgive me, I got rather upset to admit it. My homeland of the Great Swamp worshiped the Mother of Fire and her daughters more closely than the other Lords. We don't call her that name lightly you see, she's the one who created the art of Pyromancy, the manipulation of fire. Pyromancy was part of our everyday lives, so we felt a rather special connection to her." She feeling in her stomach got worse. She didn't want to talk about the Mother of Fire anymore. Something else, anything else, just not this.

Tiki blinked. "I thought you said that you felt that way because of the carriage."

Fare could've sworn that her heart had stopped for a second. "It was both," she said, trying not to speak too quickly. "What with everything that happened today, me being brought here, the fighting at the village and now being cramped in here all together was just too much to handle." Tiki nodded hesitantly. She didn't look very convinced by Fare's explanation, but she didn't pursue it any further. Fare was very grateful for that.

"Your world's history sounds very interesting," Tiki said politely.

"It is," Lucina said, smiling brightly. "I hope you don't mind but I was listening in. Solaire offered to tell me himself but things would just get a little out of hand if you and he kept repeating yourselves. I imagine even retelling a tale as epic as the battles fought by the heroes of old get rather stale when you have to explain them for the hundredth time."

Fare chuckled. The image of Quelaag was slowly vanishing from her mind and she felt slightly better now. Only slightly however. " _You don't have time to dwell on that, you need to keep pressing forward,_ " she told herself. "Yes, I imagine that it would," she said. Right now she was just glad that the conversation had moved forward. She didn't want to think about Quelaag anymore. Truth be told, she didn't really feel much like talking at all.

She felt rather clammy, as if she had just emerged from a pool of chilly water. Right now she just wanted to be left alone. It wasn't that she didn't like anyone in the carriage, they all seemed like nice people. She just felt the need to be alone right now.

Just then, the carriage came to a halt. "We're back at the village," Lucina said, getting to her feet. The others followed her lead, checking their weapons to make sure they still had them. "Tiki, what exactly do you need to do?"

"Did the black storm you saw leave any visible marks on the ground?" Tiki asked. Lucina shook her head. "I see. Well then, I'll just have to examine the bodies of those creatures you fought. I'm well over three-thousand years old. I might have spent the majority of that time in a spell induced sleep, but I still know more than most do about this world. I just want to check to make sure that they're really from another."

Fare felt the urge to insist that they really were, but she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth. She watched silently as Tiki slid open the door to the carriage. The last thing she wanted was attention brought back on her. She shook her head. The only thing that she could think about right now was heading straight back to the village's bonfire and bathing in its warm glow. At the very least, it would make her feel a little better.

"I'm telling you this is a misunderstanding!" a voice called out. "I never murdered anyone!"

"Well this man says you did!" a gruff female voice replied.

"Yes!" a third voice said. "I recognize that armor! There were two warriors defending us earlier, and one of them was wearing it. I'd recognize it anywhere! Same cloth, same size, he's even got the same shield! I don't know what he did with her sword but everything else matches!"

"You're insane!" the first man called out. "I've had this armor for years! I paid for it myself! Same with the shield! Instead of questioning me why I have my own armor, you should be smelling that man's leg! With the way he's talking I'm certain it smells like death! Start sharpening your knife and cut it off it before the corruption spreads if you want to save his life!"

All feeling, even the horrible feeling in her stomach, was washed away as Fare heard that voice. Shock and disbelief replaced them. Scrambling out of the carriage, she took in the scene. A woman with bright red hair and armor of the same color was mounted on a horse, a spear tight in hand, and the same villiager who had been shot with an arrow in the leg was sitting next to her. Behind them, Fare could see that the slain Hollows had been covered in pitch and were now burning in a pile. The air around it was thick with smoke, and a sickening smell was emanating from the pile. Despite fall this, Fare's eyes only lingered for a second before coming to rest on the third person who had spoken.

A knight dressed in steel armor with blue and golden cloth hanging from it, a shield and longsword in his hands. The armor and the shield were the exact same as Fare's. She took a step forward, not believing her eyes. "O-oscar?" she said hesitantly. "Oscar of Astora?"

"Finally, someone who recognizes I'm not a common thief," Oscar said, turning to look at Fare. "Could you please tell this woman that I-" he stopped mid-sentence as he took Fare in fully. His helmet concealed his face, but Fare was willing to bet that his eyes were wide with shock. "How?" he asked dumbly. Crossing the distance between them, Oscar stared directly at Fare's armor.

"It looks exactly like mine. The cloth. The colors." Reaching out, he gently touched a small chink in the plating that covered Fare's shoulder. Pulling back, he then touched his own shoulder in the same place. The exact same chink was there. "How?" he asked again.

Fare swallowed. After what Oscar had done for her, he deserved the truth. "I took this armor off of your corpse," she said bluntly. "I went back to the Undead Asylum, you were Hollowed. You and I fought and I slew you. I needed new armor and a new shield and yours were still in good condition." She stared directly at Oscar's visor. "I saw you Hollowed. There's no recovering from that. How are you here right now?"

Oscar took a few steps back in horror. "You must have mistaken me for someone else," he said, sounding terrified. "I fully admit that I was making my way to the Undead Asylum, but I had barely been there for half an hour before I was caught in some strange storm and ended up here."

"Where you going to drop a key into one of the cells?" Fare asked intently. "Were you trying to let them out? And where you there because one of the prophecy in your family about the Chosen Undead?"

Oscar looked at Fare in stunned silence. "How did-"

"Because I was the one you let out of that cell," Fare said, her throat feeling very tight as she continued to talk. "You even gave me my Estus Flask. You asked me to carry on in your place before…before you died." A heavy silence hung between the two of them. She looked at the ground, feeling ashamed. "I found you Hollowed when I went back to the Asylum and took your shield and armor. I'm sorry."

"But-but how?" Oscar spluttered. "I never got close to that cell! And I haven't been scratched! How can-"

"It's easily explainable," Solaire said, taking a few steps forward and stopping next to Fare. "Time is convoluted in Lordran. Even more so in the Abyss. We were brought here by the same storm that brought you here. It's very likely that these storms stretch across time itself. It's a rather complicated situation, I promise to explain it to you in full when we have the time."

"I was killed? I went Hollow?" Oscar said quietly. "How?"

"The Asylum was guarded by a giant demon," Fare said. "I didn't see it myself, but the room I found you in was sealed off from the outside and there was a hole in the roof. I think it smashed you through the roof." She could still remember Oscar lying in a pile of rubble, his blood leaking out of the dented armor. She had managed to get it repaired by Andre, but every time she looked at it she could remember exactly where the marks had been.

"I had been prepared to die. I knew my mission was dangerous," Oscar said glumly. "But I had hoped that I would've been able to accomplish something of significance before I did. From what you said, all I did was free a single prisoner. While noble, it falls short of what I originally-wait a minute."

Oscar's head jolted up to look directly at Fare, who jumped a little at the sudden movement. "Thou who art Undead, art chosen," he said, practically tripping over his own words in his haste. "In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords. When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know. You said I told you to take up my journey. You would've gone to Lordran from the Undead Asylum. Did you make it there? Did you ring the Bell of Awakening?"

Fare hesitated. "Yes. I was told that apparently I'm the Chosen Undead. The one to succeed Gwyn and bring light back to Lordran."

Oscar looked directly at Fare, not saying anything. Then, without warning, he let out a cry of pure joy. "YES!" he cried out. "I knew it! I knew if I went to the Asylum I'd find who was chosen!" He reached out and grasped Fare's hand in both of his. "Thank you so much my lady. If I really did die and go Hollow, I'd happily do it a thousand times over if it meant I truly did set the chosen on their rightful path!"

Fare, in spite of the awkwardness of the sudden contact Oscar, couldn't help but smile. A soothing warm feeling was bubbling through her at Oscar's happiness, and for the first time she couldn't help but feel a little proud to call herself the Chosen Undead.

"Pardon me, some of us don't know what the Hell you're talking about." The red haired woman was still watching Oscar from her horse, looking very annoyed. "So he's not a thief, some weird crap happened. Fine. Now can you explain said weird crap?"

"Long story short, they're from an Outrealm," Chrom said. "A storm of darkness brought them here."

"Damn, they're happening out here too?" the woman said. "The whole reason I came out here was to tell you that something like that had happened back at the capital. Some sinister looking clouds are gathering nearby. They're moving in our direction. Not acting like any clouds I've ever seen."

Chrom now looked rather concerned. Fare realized with a jolt the same thing Chrom no doubt had just realized. "Sully, is everything ok? Is the capital under attack?"

Sully blinked. "Uh, is it supposed to be?" she asked.

"When the Abyss storm happened here, it brought those," Solaire said, pointing at the burning pile of Hollows. "As well as a demon. The same could happen there."

"When I woke up, I was actually rather far from where the clouds were," Oscar said. "It took me hours to get to this village by foot. Those storms can transport things far and wide, as well as many it seems."

Sully ground her teeth. "Crap." She gave a light tug on her horse's reins, causing it to turn around. "Chrom, we better head back to the capital as soon as we can. Your friends coming with us?"

"I'd be happy to help," Solaire said cheerfully. "But I'm becoming rather worried that we're delaying our own mission too much."

Fare nodded. "We've put off taking the Lordvessel back long enough. I need to head back to our world and give it to Frampt. I can go alone. Oscar, you've done a lot for me but I'd like you to do more. Please go with these people and help them."

Oscar gave Sully a hesitant look. "As long as I am not accused of theft again," he said coldly.

Sully threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Yes, I obviously should've known your armor was duplicated by time travel. How silly of me."

"I don't think you should go alone," Chrom said. "One of us should go with you, to talk to this Frampt. We need to know what's expected of you as much as you do."

"How come?" Sully asked.

"Because the Lady Naga warned me of something." Tiki was standing by the fire, looking directly at the Hollows. "I didn't want to believe it, but with something like these cursed souls, there's no denying it. The Outrealm they're from isn't normal. There's another realm slowly engulfing it. Consuming it, choking the life out of it, slowly destroying it." She looked up sadly. "And that realm is growing larger and stronger. It's reaching out to consume other realms, and it's found ours."

Everyone gaped at her, even Solaire and Fare. "She doesn't mean the Abyss does she?" Oscar whispered. "I mean I thought heard you say Abyss earlier, but I thought it must've been a mistake." Fare shook her head sadly. "Oh Lords save us," he whispered. Fare didn't blame him. It was bad enough that the Abyss was choking their world to death, but now it was reaching out to others? They had to move fast.

"You're certain Tiki?" Chrom said. "There's no mistake?"

"Naga checked again and again, and with the damage these storms caused, as well as the monsters they bring, it's clear she's right." She didn't sound very happy to be proven wrong.

Chrom let out a rather depressed sigh. "Fare, I'd hate to say it, but it looks like this fight as as much our fight as it is your fight." Fare reluctantly nodded. "This makes it doubly important that one of us go with you."

"I will," Lucina said, stepping forward. "I've had experience with twisted worlds. I'll be fine there."

Chrom gave a weak smile, putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I know. But be careful anyway. Your mother is expecting you to come back." Lucina smiled.

"If you're coming with me, you should touch the Lordvessel," Fare said. "All of you should, it's what allows you to travel through bonfires."

"Allows us to what now?" Sully asked.

"We can do that?" Oscar asked in astonishment. After awhile, the questions eventually died down and Fare watched as everyone slowly milled around the Lordvessel, gently touching it. Finally, they were done.

"Solaire, tell Oscar everything he doesn't know, as well as the others," Fare said, as she and Lucina watched the others climb back into the carriage, the Lordvessel having been left in front of them.

"Make sure she stays safe Lucina," Chrom said from the driver's seat.

"Both of you stay safe!" Lissa called from next to him.

"Wait! I almost forgot!" Solaire jumped down from the carriage, reaching into a small pouch around his waist as he did. Approaching Lucina, he pressed what he had taken from it into the palm of her hand. Fare glanced at it and saw a very familiar looking object white gem. "You'll want this in Lordran. It's a White Soapstone. People can leave signs all over Lordran with them, signs that others can touch to summon the leaver when they're in need."

"How many of those things do you have Solaire?" Fare asked. "You give one to me, you must have one yourself, and now you've got a third to give to Lucina?" Solaire chuckled.

Lucina smiled and pocketed the soapstone. "Thank you," she said kindly. "I'll keep it in mind whenever I'm in trouble."

"Don't forget, you can always use it to help others in need too." Solaire said, turning back and climbing back onto the carriage.

"I won't!" Lucina called out as as the driver cracked the rains as the carriage trundled off, Sully following alongside it on her horse.

"So how does this work?" Lucina asked, looking at the bonfire.

"Just reach in, and imagine the place you want to travel to," Fare said. "You can only do it to places you've been before, but you can hold onto other people. So just grab my shoulder with one hand and hang onto the Lordvessel with the other."

"Right," Lucina said. Together, the two of them lifted the Lord Vessel above their heads and slowly moved towards the Bonfire, settling it down next to it gently.

Fare sat down right in front of the Bonfire, staring into its dim embers. She felt Lucina's hand grip her shoulder and saw out of the corner of her eye that she was holding the Lordvessel. "I hope you don't mind me saying that I still don't fully understand what's going on," Lucina said.

"Don't worry, I don't either," Fare said, reaching into the fire, picturing Firelink Shrine in her mind. A wonderfully warm feeling wrapped around her, much like a blanket. For awhile, there was only darkness, but before too long, she found herself kneeling on very familiar feeling mossy rocks. She smiled as she realized she was no longer in the village, but rather in the center of a crumbling stone shrine.

"Oh. It's you. Still sane?" an unnaturally soft voice said. "Who's the friend? Another Undead that should've just stayed at the Asylum?"

Fare fought back the urge to groan. She'd forgotten about him. "Who's that?" Lucina asked as both of them got to their feet. A man in chainmail was sitting on pile of rocks by a nearby archway, watching them with bored eyes.

"He refuses to tell me his name," Fare muttered. "He just sits there all day whining about everything."

"On the contrary I was actually starting to enjoy this place until you had to go and wake him up," the man said grumpily, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the archway. "Have you ever tried to get to sleep with the smell its breath makes?"

"He refuses to shut up about it," a second voice said.

"He's not lying. We can hardly g-go an hour without him bringing it up." Fare smiled when she saw a man in black robes and a second man in a brown hood sitting in front of each other near the Bonfire.

"Lucina, Griggs of Vinheim and Laurentius of the Great Swamp," she said, pointing out the man and black and then the man in brown. "We haven't known each other long but we have helped each other out from time to time." It was true. Fare barely knew the two of them and had a feeling that their paths could part at any time, unlike her and Solaire's paths. Still, she did feel comfort knowing that she could rely on them for help until that time came. Although that time seemed to have already come for someone. "Griggs, where's Logan?" The sorcerer Big Hat Logan and the hat that gave him his namesake were nowhere to be seen.

"Ah. The Master left, heading back to Sen's Fortress. He said he was determined to make it to Anor Londo and find an archive of knowledge he was certain was there," Griggs said. He looked rather exhausted as he said it.

Fare's eye twitched. "I found him in a cage when I went through there the first time. He wants to go back?"

"I tried to convince him otherwise, but he couldn't listen," Griggs said defensively. "He's very stubborn. I'm getting a little worried, he's been gone a long time. I'm starting to think I should go after him."

"Don't," Fare said. "Logan is supposed to be one of the most powerful sorcerers in living memory. If it's too much for him, it's too much for you."

Laurentius nodded. "Think about this Griggs. You and I may be skilled at magic but we're hardly seasoned fighters. We'd be better off s-staying here."

Griggs bit his lip nervously. "Logan is indeed one of the most powerful sorcerers in living memory. That's why I can't just let him go Hollow inside of Sen's Fortress."

"Well, I did manage to make it through in the end, and I had to disarm a couple of traps to do so," Fare said hesitantly. She hadn't known Big Hat Logan for very long, nor did she know him particularly well. She had rescued him from Sen's Fortress, pulling him out of a gibbet that he had been locked in. Despite that, he had kept to himself when he had moved to Firelink Shrine afterwards, hiding his face under that impractically large hat of his.

He hadn't exactly been rude, but he hadn't been courteous either. He hadn't said much, only ever talking at length with Griggs, who was a fellow sorcerer. She was rather annoyed that he was running off back to where he had nearly died, but in the end it was his decision and not hers. Still, she couldn't help but feel worried. She didn't particularly like him, but she had no desire to see him go Hollow. It was why she had let him out of the gibbet in the first place, which had hardly been the first time she had freed someone who had been trapped.

"Ah, hello. I was wondering when you'd be back. You've been gone a long time." A man in gilded gold armor was climbing up a set of stairs, coming from the opposite direction of the archway. She recognized him. She had found him locked in a cell long ago and had let him out at his pleading.

"Lucina, Lautrec of Carim," Fare said hesitantly. Something about Lautrec made her feel uneasy. She could never pin down exactly what it is. Maybe it was how calm he had been when she had found him in his cell, or maybe it his oddly soft voice, which could barely be above a whisper at times. His armor was a possibility as well, his helmet not having a normal visor but a couple dozen, scattered, tiny holes that gave him a very uncanny look.

"Ah, and where does your new friend hail from?" Lautrec asked with interest, looking at Lucina.

"You know, you never mentioned that," Griggs said.

Fare wondered if it would be a good idea to tell them about how Lucina was from another world. If they didn't believe her, they might see it as a sign that she was going insane, and by extension Hollow. On the other hand things like time being convoluted were common knowledge in Lordran, so they might find the concept mundane. Lucina answered before Fare could make up her mind. "I'm sorry, but Fare and I are in a bit of a hurry," she said.

"Ah, of course," Lautrec said politely. "Pardon my rudeness. It's just that I owe Fare a favor. She did something very important for me, and there's something I want to give her for it." Lautrec stretched out his arm, and Fare saw that he was holding up a rather worn scroll. "You're a Pyromancer if I recall. You might find this interesting. Some old hermit's personal research into Pyromancey." He chuckled. "Then again I just described all Pyromancers there didn't I?"

Fare felt a twinge of annoyance as she reached out and took the scroll. "Thank you," she said. "Come on Lucina." The two of them picked up the Lordvessel before they turned and walked towards the archway.

"Pinch your nose," the gloomy warrior said as they passed him.

After a few minutes of walking, they found themselves in front of a square pit, one that went down so deep that its bottom couldn't be seen. A giant, gray serpent was stretching out of it, its head resting on the ground in front of the pit, its eyes closed. A couple of strips of flesh that looked rather like a mustache was hanging under his snout. Like the gloomy warrior had said, a horribly rancid smell was coming from him, as if there was a pile of ripe corpses in his mouth "He's the one that told me I was the Chosen Undead. Kingseeker Frampt," Fare said as they set the Lordvessel down. Lucina's eyes widened at the sight of the serpent, after a minute she let out a small chuckle.

"Seems like all you've done since we got here is introduce me and explain things to me," Lucina said. "Sorry about that. It must be annoying."

"I only have to do it once," Fare said, "Don't worry about it."

"So how did you meet those people?" Lucina asked. "Frampt seems like he might be asleep for a bit."

"Griggs I found locked inside of a building in Undead Burg. It looked like he had barricaded himself in and slipped the key out underneath the door in a panic," Fare said. "He was a bit of a nervous wreck when I found him, there were Hollows all around. He's nice enough, though he's a bit of sycophant towards Logan. Laurentius had been captured by a couple of giant Hollows and he said something about 'her' going to eat him." She frowned. "Not sure what he meant by that, the two Hollows I killed near him were male. He seems to like me more than most because we're both from the Great Swamp. He says he doesn't mind being alone though, which I can kinda understand."

"I see," Lucina said. "Do you consider them friends?"

"I wish I could say that, but I can't," Fare admitted. "We've only met a couple of times, most of the other times we go our own ways. That's rather typical here."

"Don't you ever get lonely?" Lucina asked. "When I was in a situation like this, I still had my friends with me."

"I've got Solaire, he makes for better company than you think," Fare said. She felt a little weird talking about this. Not uncomfortable, but weird. "As for lonely, I suppose sometimes I do. I'm like Laurentius in that I like being alone sometimes. Just me and my thoughts, it's pleasant. I don't like being that way all the time though, I do want to be around people after I've had my time alone. Preferably people I know very well." She swallowed. "I'm glad you still had your friends."

Lucina gave a small smile. "You can be one of them if you want."

Fare blinked and felt her face get rather hot. It was a little absurd. She was supposed to be on a mission to save Lordran from the Abyss, the idea of sitting around talking about making friends was almost laughable. Yet here she was. And she couldn't help but smile. "I'd like that," she said. Lucina was about to reply when Frampt gave a rather loud snore. Her cape blew behind her from the force and her hands clamped down over her nose. Fare's eyes watered as the smell hit her as well.

"All right, we've been patient enough," Fare said. Getting to her she walked to where Frampt was sleeping and smacked him across the snout.

"Hm? No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine! Well and wide awake!" Frampt spluttered, his head rising groggily. "Do not treat me like an old withering snake." He let out a loud yawn, blinking wearily. "Ah, Chosen Undead, it's you. Have you-" he stopped as he spotted the Lordvessel. "Oh heavens! You've done it! After a thousand years it really is you!" Without warning, his neck stretched forward and his teeth closed around the edge of the Lordvessel, dragging it down with him as he descended into his pit, well out of sight.

Lucina and Fare had just enough time to look at each other before Frampt rose back up without the Lordvessel. Fare opened her mouth ask what was going on when he opened lowered his head and closed his jaw around her. The smell was more intolerable than ever, pressed directly into her face along with something uncomfortably wet and squishy. She was about to scream went the grip around her lessened and she fell a few feet before hitting hard ground. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" she roared, looking up at Frampt.

He was now hanging upside down, his mustache like flesh dangling underneath him. He at least had the decency to look sheepish. "It is the only way I can bring others down here. I apologize, I got a little excited. I should have warned you. But this is where you must place the Lordvessel. Firelink Altar. The gate to the Kiln of the First Flame."

Fare's anger at Frampt faded as she looked around. She was in a poorly lit stone room, empty aside from the torches, a plinth, and a set of stone gates behind it. "You mean the First Flame is behind that gate?" She felt a little giddy. "You mean all we have to do is open that gate?"

"Sadly, opening the gate is not that simple," Frampt said. "But first, place the Lordvessel on the plinth." He nodded at the Lordvessel, which was at Fare's side. Nodding, she bent down and grabbed it. With some difficulty, she picked it up, using her chest to push it up just as much as she was using her arms. Eventually, she managed to get it to the plinth, almost dropping it as she laid it down. Stepping back, she blinked in surprise.

Fire had ignited in the middle of the of the middle of the Lordvessel, quickly spreading to fill the entire bowl. It was a very pleasant fire, giving off the same warmth as the Bonfires. She had been about to reach out to bathe in its warmth when a pillar of light erupted from the Lordvessel, reaching up through a hole in the roof. Fare stumbled back in surprise, tripping and landing on her bottom as she gazed in amazement at the pillar. Eventually, slowly, it faded away. She continued to stare where it had been, dumbfounded, before getting to her feet. "What was that?" she asked, not turning around to face Frampt.

"There are special barriers throughout all of Lordran protecting the weirder of Lord Souls," Frampt said. "Nothing can break them. Nothing but the Lordvessel, as it just did. Great power is needed to open the gate, the power of brilliant souls. Scarce few posses such souls. Gravelord Nito, the Witch of Izalith, with their Lord Souls. The Four Kings of New Anor Londo and Lord Gwyn's former confidant who inherited shards of his own Lord Soul. These are the only brilliant souls in Lordran that can fill the Lordvessel. The gate will only open when the Lordvessel is full. Because of the Lordvessel, you can now reach these souls."

"Wait, I'm supposed to gather the Lord Souls?" Fare said. She couldn't believe this. Seath the Scaleless and the Four Kings were one thing, but the Mother of Fire and Nito? The ones she had seen as gods and she was supposed to just collect the very thing that made them gods? "But how?" she asked. "Are they just supposed to give them to me? To show their approval?"

"I doubt it will be that easy," Frampt said. "They are not what they once were. The Four Kings betrayed their city to the Abyss, forcing Gwyn to flood it. Seath has gone mad and locked himself away in his fortress, performing horrible experiments. Nito has withdrawn into his domain of the dead, selfishly hiding and refusing to aid those who stand against the coming darkness. And the Witch of Izalith." Frampt paused, looking at Fare. "I was told not to reveal the nature of her fate, but you are a Pyromancer are you not?" he asked.

Fare nodded. "Of the Great Swamp. We hold the Mother of Fire in the highest regard of all the Lords."

"Then, as the Chosen Undead and a follower of the Witch of Izalith, I will tell you," Frampt said kindly. "She performed the ultimate sacrifice. She sacrificed most of her Lord Soul to keep the First Flame alit after the corruption of New Anor Londo. The strain killed her, but her sacrifice was not in vain. Without it, the Abyss would have overrun all. Demons stole what was left of her soul and fled to Izalith, the home of the Witch. Demons rule it now, guarding the remains of the Lord Soul with their lives." Frampt locked eyes with Fare. "Do you understand what I ask of you?"

"I do," Fare said, feeling unexpectedly confident. If the Mother of Fire could sacrifice her very soul for Lordran, bringing it back to where it belonged was simple by comparison. She could do this. "All four of those souls. I'll bring them back here. And open the gate."

Frampt nodded. "Yes. One more thing. Nito resides in the depths of the Tomb of the Giants, Seath the Duke's Archives near Anor Londo, and the demons within Izalith. But the Four Kings hide within the Abyss itself. You will have to enter that void to take their soul back. Merely existing inside the Abyss is fatal, you will need a guard. Go to the grave of Artorias the Abysswalker in Darkroot Garden. His ring will protect you as it did him."

Fare nodded. "I'll do it Frampt," she said. She felt stronger than she had in a long time. For the longest time, her life had seemed like a dark, never-ending tunnel. But for the first time in the longest time that she could remember, there was a light at the end.

XXXXX

Author's Note: I think I made it obvious, but just in case I screwed it up, Fare has PTSD. I did my best to double check any sources I could find to make sure her condition was accurate, but I'm always worried I missed something or fucked it up. It doesn't help that apparently every case of PTSD is different. If you see anything about her that is inaccurate, please do not hesitate to tell me.

Also, some people may have noticed that I changed how Frampt told the Chosen Undead what to do. Well, to avoid going into spoilers for those who aren't familiar for Dark Souls, I just thought it'd be more in character for him to sugar coat what he was saying.

On another note, I put in scenes like Lucina talking about being Fare's friend, because Dark Souls is relentlessly bleak, but it's in a crossover with Fire Emblem now. Friendship is kind of a big deal there, and Fare's still a human who would want some kind of companionship. I tried to make it flow in naturally and subtly though, not just screaming "FRIENDSHIP IS THE BEST THING EVER! just showing two people bonding and how Fare is warming up to people from a world where life isn't a never ending battle.

Well let me know if I didn't address anything you felt needed to be explained.


	4. Pure Black Iron

Chapter 4

Pure Black Iron

Author's Note: GUH! Why me no update regularly?

XXXXX

Solaire hummed happily as he laid his straight sword along his lap, running a whetstone along the edge. He had already cleaned it and now he was simply sharpening it. As he ran his whetstone up his sword for the fifth time, he stopped. Frowning, he held up his sword to eye level. There was a small chink in the edge, no doubt from the prolonged fighting against the Hollows and the Capra Demon.

"No matter, simple enough to fix," he said to himself. Reaching into a pouch he had around his waist, he produced a small pinch of bright golden repair powder, sprinkling it onto the chink. He watched with a smile as the chink slowly disappeared. "That should do it," he said, sliding his maintained sword back into its sheath.

"So, Solaire of Astora correct?" Oscar was sitting right across from him, his arms folded. He sounded slightly on edge, but Solaire had a good feeling that it was mainly because of wounded pride from being accused of theft. "You've been traveling with Fare for some time now?"

Solaire paused before he answered. "Not exactly. We only started to truly travel together recently. Our paths had crossed beforehand but we always went out separate ways after." Solaire had to admit that even something like that was rather rare in Lordran. Normally if you met someone in that land, you would only meet them again if they refused to move from where you had found them. It was rare to meet another traveler again, yet somehow he and Fare had both survived long enough to keep finding each other.

"Well, you still must have seen her. Do you mind telling me what you know about her? I think I should now considering that I…died for her." There was a faint sound in the carriage, and although he could barely hear it, Solaire was sure it was the sound of Oscar swallowing. "I just want to know who I died for."

Tiki, who had been sitting nearby, canned her neck to look at the conversation, a mixture of curiosity and horror on her face. Solaire looked at Oscar, digging up old memories of Fare. "The first time I ever met her was in Undeadburg, just before the parish. She was a bit of a mess then, I hope she doesn't mind me saying that. Her legs were shaking like twigs and her equipment was in a sorry state. Torn leather armor, a cracked wooden shield, and a chipped axe that looked like it should've been used to cut trees, not flesh."

"Wait, she was in Lordran but she didn't have my armor?" Oscar said. "Are you telling she went BACK to the Undead Asylum?"

Solaire frowned. Now that she had touched the Lordvessel it would be easy for Fare to return to the Asylum, so long as there was a Bonfire there. That didn't make any sense though, Fare had only recently gained the ability to travel from Bonfire to Bonfire. It would've been a long trek she undertook to get back there. "She must have," he said.

"How and more importantly WHY!?" Oscar said. "There's nothing of value there! It's a crumbling, abandoned fortress that only has Hollows and a demon guardian. And if she was locked up in there, she must have nothing but bad memories of the place. Why go back?"

Solaire shook his head. "She never even told me that she did go back. I need to ask her myself. Now then, as I said, she was in a bit of a sorry state when I first saw her. Actually collapsed and had to rest against a wall for a few minutes. She was the first un-Hollowed person I had seen in quite some time, and she didn't appear to be a threat, so I approached her. Now that I think back, she did mention you Oscar, though not by name. She said that a knight had freed her from the Asylum and asked her to fulfill and ancient prophecy with his dying wishes. She said that not only was it the only thing she knew what to do with herself, she said that she owed you for freeing her from that place."

Oscar fidgeted uncomfortably. "That was…kind of her." He sounded as if saying anything else would be a great effort. Solaire couldn't blame him. What were you supposed to say on events that included your own death?

"I gave her a soapstone and we parted ways. We encountered each other a couple of times afterward. Once on the rooftops of Undead Parish fighting a pair of axe wielding gargoyles, the second time in the Depths, the sewers underneath Undeadburg. We fought something that might have been a dragon at some point down there."

Solaire fought the urge to shudder at the thought of the monster he and Fare had only just barely managed to kill. It had had the body and wings of a dragon, but it had had six legs instead of four, and its head had been laughably small. All of this was very easy to miss from the dragon's front, which opened from top to bottom to reveal a gaping maw lined with hundreds of teeth, many of them longer than a fully grown man. The entire fight the creature had been thrashing across the floor, desperately gnashing at them and trying to swallow them. He doubted that the two of them would've made for a satisfying meal for the monster, yet it had tried to eat them all the same.

"After that I didn't meet her again until Anor Londo," Solaire said. "Once there we approached the throne room, and on Gwyn's name I am speaking the truth, dueled against Smough the Execution and Ornstein the Dragonslayer to prove our worth." Tiki looked at Solaire with confusing covering her face, while Oscar looked at him in stunned silence.

After a few words, he found his voice. "The Ornstein the Dragonslayer? Of the Four Knights The two of you fought him?"

"Yes," Solaire said. "Though technically Fare was the one who fought Ornstein, I fought Smough." Utter disgust curdled at the pit of Solaire's stomach as he thought of Smough. Untrained, impatient and just above a mindless savage. A man like that was part of the Four Knights now? Noticing that Oscar was still staring at him blankly, Solaire added "I wouldn't say that she won though. Ornstein wasn't trying to beat her, just gauge if she was worthy or not. He landed twice as many blows on her as she did on him."

"Ah," Oscar said. As he slumped back into his seat, Solaire realized that Oscar had been rather stiff during their conversation. "Well that makes sense. She may be the Chosen Undead but even then that isn't enough to beat someone like Ornstein in single combat. Plus she's from the Great Swamp, and if I recall what I learned about them, they don't train knights in the same way that other kingdoms do. I trained since I was a child to wild a sword, I doubt she's had the privilege."

"Yes," Solaire said. Fare had made an offhand comment about having some combat training, but it hadn't sounded like very much. It had seemed as if she had been forced to learn how to fight first hand. It had paid off though, for while she was hardly a master swordswoman she was now proficient with a sword. At least on par with some of the knights he had met. Solaire wondered how long she had fought to reach that level. A chilling thought flowed into his mind, as he realized she could've spent years struggling her way through Lordran, fighting on her own and being forced to become more skilled to survive. He cast that thought aside. Nothing good would come from imagining horrible fates.

"Apart from that I don't know much about her. I know that she's a pyromancer, something that's common among denizens of the Great Swamp, and that when I met her she didn't seem to know much about Lordran. She still struggles with some parts of it. Everything else about her that I know is more along the lines of who she is, rather than what she is."

"I see," Oscar said, his voice rather odd. "I'd like to get to know her better personally. I think I am allowed that right."

"I doubt she would have a problem with that, she did seem quite friendly," Tiki said.

Oscar didn't look at her and made an odd non-committed noise. "I don't friendliness plays a very large factor here," he said. "She says that she saw me die."

Solaire nodded. "I can see how that would make you feel, but I still think you should-" there was a sudden jerk as the carriage lurched to a halt.

In the front, Chrom and Lissa sprang to their feet. "What's going on!?" Chrom shouted.

"M'Lord!" Solaire heard the driver cry, even through the wooden wall of the carriage. "The castle!" That was all Chrom had needed to hear. He kicked open the door to the carriage and bolted out, his sister right after her. Solaire, Oscar and Tiki glanced at each other before scrambling out of their seats as well. Solaire was the first out, his shield and sword drawn. He could hear Oscar drawing his own sword as he hit the grass, looking around.

They were in the middle of a courtyard, out of the corner of his eye he could see that they had already passed through the castle's gate. The sound of steel on steel filled his ears, and all around him he could see men fighting. They weren't fighting other men, or even Hollows, however. They were fighting creatures with the scale covered human bodies and the heads of serpents, nearly all of them carrying large curved blades, along with wooden shields.

Solaire had seen these creatures before in an abandoned fortress in Lordran. Vicious beasts that had attacked him on sight. He glanced him at the sky and saw clouds fading away above him. The clouds that were made of darkness and had brought him to this world in the first place. "Again," he whispered. Chrom had already darted forward and swung Falchion at the nearest serpent man, who had been fighting a badly wounded soldier. Chrom managed to attack it from behind, and with a few quick slices it was dead on the ground, the soldier gaping in surprise.

"My Lord Chrom," she gasped, falling to her knee. Solaire wasn't sure if she had done this out of respect or because her other leg was bleeding profusely. "They came out of nowhere. We tried to rally but they were everywhere. The fighting has dissolved into a hundred different skirmishes. I don't-"

"Save your breath," Chrom said gently, before turning to face his sister. "Lissa! Hurry!" Lissa didn't need to be told twice. She was at the soldier's side in a second, her staff lowered to the bleeding leg. It glowed brightly and as it faded the bleeding did as well.

"Thank you," the soldier said, using her spear as a support to stand again. "My Lord, I don't know where your wife and son are. I last saw them in the throne room, but that was hours ago."

Solaire saw conflict flicker across Chrom's face, but it was gone just as fast as it had come. Solaire suspected Chrom had forced it down. "They're skilled warriors, and they have each other. I'm certain that they can take of themselves. We need to take back control of this castle. We need to rally our forces, we can't afford to be divided. First thing's first, we need to clear the courtyard."

Chrom continued to talk, but Solaire had heard all that he had needed to. The courtyard needed to be cleared and he needed his forces rallied. Best the serpent-men be killed quickly then, before too many lives were lost. He darted forward, searching for a good target. He saw half a dozen different fights happening at the same time. Five soldiers had swarmed one of the serpent men, and although it swung its sword desperately, it was soon impaled by all of their spears, their combined strength lifting it off of the ground for a few seconds. A handful of archers had managed to man the walls and were loosing arrows wherever they could into the fight, and a handful of serpent men were already lying dead on the ground, arrows poking out of them.

Other fights weren't going as well. One of the serpent men brought its blade down and tore into the side of a soldier, sending the women flying to the ground as her intestines began to droop out of the wound. Another man lost his head to a vicious swipe from a serpent man, while another was gargling in agony as one of the serpent men had clamped its jaw shut around his neck.

Shutting out the countless screams of pain, Solaire spotted a trio of the serpent men who were advancing on a single soldier, their backs to him. Charging forward, Solaire thrust his sword forward and buried it to the hilt in the back of the nearest one. The serpent man cried out in agony, but before it could react, Solaire ripped his sword out and swung it into the monster's back again. This time, it fell silently to the ground, blood pouring out of its gaping wounds.

The other two had turned when their ally had fallen and were now advancing on Solaire. He followed both of their movements and noticed that they were slowly splitting apart. They were going to try and flank him. He darted to the right and advanced on one of them, but this proved to be unneeded.

He heard the sound of hooves hitting the ground just before Sully sped past him, driving her spear directly into the serpent man's throat. It was thrown off of its feet and onto its back, twitching and making low rasping noises, as Sully road on. Grinning, Solaire turned to face the final serpent man, which had abandoned all pretense and was now charging at him.

Solaire barely brought his shield up in time, the reptile's thick blade slamming into it. He felt himself forced backwards an inch as he forced the shield to stay up, despite the heavy impact of the blow. The serpent man raised its sword again, but this time Solaire ducked underneath the blow and hacked at his opponent's torso, tearing it open. He jumped back, barely avoiding a third strike from the serpent man, which buried itself in the ground instead. Solaire stared intently at the creature as it tried to pull its sword from the ground. It had to pull a couple of times before it could get it out, and it stumbled as it finally succeeded. Overall it was moving more sluggishly.

"It's badly wounded," Solaire muttered. Now that he wasn't focusing on dodging the monster's attacks, Solaire could see how badly hurt it had been from his attack. The gash in its side was huge, stretching from front to back, bright red blood pouring out even as the serpent man clutched at its side. It looked at Solaire, and he was certain that it had anger in its eyes. Before it could do anything else, however, a sword cleaved through the base of its neck from behind.

Solaire blinked in surprise as the headless body fell to the ground, revealing Oscar behind it. "Ha! They're not so hard to kill!" the knight shouted triumphantly. Solaire allowed himself a small smile before turning to find another foe. The fight was already turning in their favor. The soldiers seemed inspired by the return of their leader, or at the very least they had rallied behind him, because well over a dozen of them had formed a tightly knit pack around Chrom. Said pack was moving through the courtyard, Chrom at the lead, overwhelming the serpent men one by one while they were still separated by the smaller skirmishes.

In addition to that, Solaire realized with a pang of surprise that there was something on the far side of the courtyard with several dead serpent men by its feet. A bright green dragon, albeit the smallest one Solaire had ever seen, was breathing fire and swiping its claws, adding to the pile. Solaire looked on, feeling impressed. Tiki had not been overstating her powers in the slightest.

"Hey!" He felt someone tugging his arm and turned to see Lissa right next to him. "Most of these things are in the courtyard and my brother has them handled. But the guards saw some of them go inside the castle! Everyone else is busy, come on!"

"I'm sorry?" Oscar asked. "You're barely even a woman grown, I'm not-" but Solaire cut him off.

"Lead the way," he said. Either Lissa was ignoring what Oscar had said or she hadn't heard him through the chaos going on all around her, for she didn't react to him in the slightest. She merely bowed her head before turning and storming through the open castle gates, Solaire right behind her.

As the two progressed forward, Solaire heard an extra set of footsteps behind them, and knew that Oscar was following them after all. He grinned. He wasn't sure why Oscar had objected to not taking orders from Lissa, perhaps it had just been so long since he had served a lord. Either way, it seemed like he had made the right decision in the end.

The inside of the castle was rather empty compared to the courtyard inside, but the signs of battle where still everywhere. Splatters of blood on the wall, a horrible rancid stench, and bodies that littered the path they moved down as they followed the trail of carnage. While humans and serpent men both lay among the dead, Solaire released with a pang of remorse that there were far more human corpses than serpent ones.

"How many were seen entering?" Oscar said, finally catching up to Solaire and matching his pace. "It looks like a few dozen at the very least. At first that is. There appears to be less now."

Lissa craned her neck over her shoulder and shook her head. "Everything happened so fast no one got a good look at what was going on."

"It doesn't matter," Solaire said confidently. "I've seen beasts more powerful than these brought low by common steel. The three of us may be few, but we're more than a match for whatever numbers they have."

Lissa gave a nervous laugh. "I hope you're right." It was then that Solaire noticed that she had slung the staff that she had used for healing over her back and was now holding a thick leather-bound tome in her hand. Solaire stared at it with curiosity. He hadn't known Lissa long enough to claim that he knew her particularly well, but even he knew that she wasn't the type to start reading in the middle of a fight. He doubted that the tome she held was simply a book.

Forcing his focus back to the front, he and the others continued to move forward. What felt like a minute passed and yet still they found nothing living, simply more bodies. But there was something odd about those bodies. While the human bodies had initially dwarfed the serpent ones, that was quickly changing. Apart from a lone corpse here or there, only serpent men were lining the halls now.

That wasn't the only thing that Solaire found strange. He hadn't paid much heed to it until now, but now that he thought about it, the serpent men they had seen before had had multiple gaping holes in their chest and sides. It made sense, most of the soldiers had only been armed with spears, it would've taken two or three of them stabbing at the front of the front of one of the snakes in order to kill them.

The ones that they were passing now had much larger wounds. Many were burnt all over, some still smoldering, while others didn't have their outsides marked but lay at twisted angles, as if their insides had been reduced to paste. The ones that caught Solaire's attention, however, were the ones that had been torn apart. Many of them twisted and torn to the point where their torsos had almost been cleaved in half. A handful actually had suffered that fate, their lower bodies laying far from their upper.

"What in Gwyn's name?" he heard Oscar whispering behind him. Before anyone could reply, a scream echoed through the hallways. It had come from nearby.

"Ahead!" Lissa said. There was a door at the end of the hallway, one that they were rapidly approaching. It was wide openly, barely hanging on its hinges, and cracked. The three of them burst through, Solaire in the lead, and found themselves in a wide open chamber with a circular table in the middle.

A group, with some dressed in brightly colored clothing and others in worn and dirty clothing, cowered in the corner. None of them appeared to have weapons or armor. Half a dozen serpent men had formed a half circle around them, and were attempting to advance on them. As one of them prepared to make a lunge, a ball of fire tore through the air and exploded on its face. It howled in agony, dropping its weapon as it clutched desperately at its burning head, only for a bolt of lighting to tear through its chest as it did.

As it fell to the ground, Solaire saw that two people in purple coats were standing between the serpent men and the civilians. One of them had short blue hair and looked as if he was just old enough to be called a grown man, while the other had long purple hair tied up into a ponytail and appeared to be a decade older. They each had a sword in one hand and an open book in the other, and in unison they thrust their books forward. Once again, a fireball and a bolt of lightening tore through the chamber, the fire from the man and the lightning from the woman, the two spells claiming the lives of another serpent man.

Solaire had just enough time to notice that they weren't conjuring and focusing the spells in their hands the way he or Fare would have done should they use Miracles or Pyromancy. The spell seemed to appear directly in front of them. Whatever the magic the people in this world used, it was far different from what he knew. He barely had time to comprehend this before one of the serpent men turned and spotted them. It hissed, bringing its sword and shield to bare.

Solaire charged forward. As he did, he felt a massive gust of wind blow past him, slightly buffeting him, and smash into one of the serpent men that had still been facing the two in purple. It was blown off of its feet and against a wall, striking it with a loud crack before drooping, unmoving, to the floor. Having a distinct feeling that he had just seen what Lissa's tome was for, Solaire continued to advance on the serpent man whose attention he had drawn.

As he reached sword range, Solaire thrust forward, only to have the snake's shield turn his blade away. Snarling, the monster began to hack at him, viciously and without any coordination. Solaire dodged to the side, ducking and weaving as blow after blow narrowly missed him. He grit his teeth in concentration as his eyes followed the giant sword, looking for an opening. He took his chance as a blow meant to decapitate him narrowly missed and darted forward. With a single swipe, he opened a gaping wound in the snake's belly. He jumped back as the creature swung in retaliation and wasn't quick enough.

The sword cut into his right arm. His armor absorbed much of the blow, but he still felt a stab of pain as steel buried itself in his skin, only to stop with an unpleasant feeling of bone being hit. Forcing himself through the pain, he lunged forward again, bringing his blade up to the monster's neck. He saw its eyes widen in shock as the side of his blade tore into its throat, blood spewing out as it toppled to the ground. He felt a small amount of pity for the creature, but nothing more.

Looking to the side he saw that the others had dispatched the rest of the reptiles. Oscar was pulling his sword out of a badly burnt one, while the last one that had been standing collapsed, the fire covering it slowly dying out. Glancing at his arm, Solaire saw that the serpent's sword was still buried in his arm, loosely hanging out. Grabbing the far end of the blade, he pulled it out with a tug, a spike of pain tearing through him as he dislodged it from his bone. Fighting back a yelp of pain, he placed his shield on his back and drew his talisman, bringing it to hover over the wound.

As he concentrated and the talisman began to glow with a golden light, closing the wound, the purple haired woman spoke. "Lissa!"

"Robin!" Lissa bounded forward and wrapped her arms around the older woman, who returned the favor. That is to say, she returned the favor as best she could with a sword in one hand and a tome in the other.

"So, that's Chrom's wife and Lucina's mother," Solaire said to himself, his wound now fully healed. He had overhead Tiki telling Fare about them on the carriage ride. He frowned. Something didn't seem right about this. He thought it might have been a trick of the light when he had looked at Chrom, but now that he saw Robin he couldn't avoid it. Lucina wasn't a child, she was a fully grown woman, but that didn't make sense when he looked at their parents. They looked as if they were three decades old at the most, meaning they only could've reasonably have convinced a child as old as Lucina if they had done so as children.

Fittingly, as he was pondering this, Robin broke away from Lissa. "Lucina! Where are you dear?"

He blinked in confusion. "Lucina isn't with us. She-" trailed off. Out of the crowd of terrified civilians, a small girl walked out. She was clutching a small blue mask that looked rather like a butterfly in her hands, trembling as she stopped in front of Robin.

"Is it over mommy?" she said softly.

"Almost," Robin said, bending down and gently embracing the small girl. "But that metal giant is still nearby. Mommy has to go take care of it. Stay with Morgan." The young man that had been with Robin reached down and gently look Lucina by the hand, leading her back towards the crowd. Solaire was smiling softly at what he just saw but his mind also felt rather blank. Why was there another girl called Lucina?

"Metal giant?" Lissa asked, the color draining from her face. "Exactly how giant?"

"Very," Robin said grimly, letting go of the little girl as Morgan took her by the hand and let her back to the crowd, smiling gently as he did. "It was on the far side of the castle. It's been awfully quiet for some time now, and that makes me worried." As she spoke, she properly noticed Solaire and Oscar for the first time. "Lissa, who are these people?"

"Long story, but they're here to help," Lissa said. "But this giant?"

"Last I saw it, it was around the back of the castle. It had smashed the barracks in half," Robin said. "Before we could do anything about it we got swarmed by those snake things. We had to hold them off before we could do anything else." She looked around, a nervous expression on her face. "It was making a lot of noise earlier but now I can't hear it. I don't know why, but I doubt it's for a comforting reason."

Solaire had a good feeling he knew what this metal giant was. He had faced such a thing at the top of Sen's Fortress, the same place he had seen the serpent men. It had been a close battle but he had managed to win by forcing it to fall off of the tower by luring it to the edge and then hitting it with a few well placed strikes. Beating it again without it being so high up would be difficult. "Lead the way," he said.

"I'll keep Lucina and the others safe Mother!" Morgan shouted, a wide smile on his face. Robin shot her son a quick smile of her own before she led Lissa, Oscar and Solaire out of the chamber through a side door.

"Magic would probably be the best way to fight this thing," Robin said as the four of them ran through the hallway that they were in. "I'm not sure swords would work on it." She canned her neck to look at Solaire and Oscar. "Can either of you use magic?"

"Yes!" Solaire said, thinking of his Miracles. Lightning spears had worked on it before, he didn't see why they wouldn't work again. Oscar, on the other hand, was silent and stared at the floor. Solaire wasn't sure, but he could've sworn that he heard the knight muttering to himself.

"All right, between you, Lissa and myself we should stand a chance," Robin said. She slammed herself into a set of double doors, forcing them wide open. They were outside again, not in a wide open courtyard, but in a strip of land between the castle and the wall surrounding it. All of them spread out, looking in every direction that they could, trying to find the giant. It didn't take them long. What they saw, however, was far from what they were expecting.

The giant was so huge that it could have easily have grabbed someone standing on the third story of the castle. It had an axe that was large enough to match its size, dwarfing all of them, even though it was a one handed axe. Its hands alone were massive enough to grab one of them and crush them in its palms without even trying. It was dead.

It lay sprawled on the ground, its axed discarded at its side, not a single part of its body moving. There was a figure standing on its chest, wrenching something out of the giant's chest. With a loud grunt, the figure pulled out something thick and long, which Solaire realized was a greatsword. The figure slide off of the giant, wincing slightly as it hit the ground, and began to head towards them. It approached them slowly, limping as it approaching, not putting more weight than needed on its right leg.

As it neared, Solaire saw that it was wearing armor that was pure black iron and holding a greatshield and greatsword of the same black metal. Oddly enough, what seemed to be a wrought iron chalice was hanging from its neck by a chain. What was more, while tiny compared to the giant, this figure was a good head taller than Solaire, easily just as tall as the black knights.

It stopped in front of them, letting out a grunt of pain, before speaking in a deep, gruff voice. "I saw you fighting, but I couldn't make my way through the thick of the horde. I tried to reach you, but that thing found me first. Tell me. Are you all all right?"

Solaire noticed that the man's armor was drenched with blood, as was his sword. He had a feeling that he knew what had been the cause of the torn serpent men that he had found earlier. "We are all fine, thank you," Robin said, sounding a little shocked but keeping her composure. She was doing better than the others, Lissa's jaw was hanging open and Oscar was staring directly at him. Even Solaire felt overwhelmed that this person had managed to defeat the giant all on his own with little more to show for it than a bad leg. "I thought I might have seen someone your size earlier, but things were so chaotic that I didn't have tie to think about it."

The man let out a soft laugh. "It is quite understandable. I've seen battles like these before. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tarkus. Tarkus of Berenike."

"Berenike?" Oscar said, sounding puzzled. "I thought knights from there were supposed to be bigger."

"BIGGER!?" Lissa shouted in exasperation. "Are you and I looking at the same person? We're all puny compared to him!"

"He speaks the truth," Tarkus said. "My brothers and sisters towered over me. The change did not effect me the same way that it effected them. Though I still became just as strong as they were."

Solaire paused. He had heard vague stories about the knights of Berenike. They were certainly far too large to be regular humans, yet they certainly weren't like the Black Knights. It made sense that they were transformed somehow. Yet he had never managed to get a consistent account of how it was done.

"Well, look, we can talk about how freakishly huge you have to be to count as freakishly huge," Lissa said. "There could still be fighting going on in the court yard. Chrom and the others could use our help."

"The battle was starting to turn in their favor, but she's right," Solaire said. "Which way to the courtyard from here?"

"It'd be faster if we stay outside and don't weave through the inside of the castle," Robin said.

"I'm not certain I would be able to keep up," Tarkus said. "My leg is broken. My armor is thick, but that was of little help when that thing smashed me into a wall."

"Hold on," Lissa said. In a second, she was at Tarkus' side, holding her staff against his leg as it glowed brightly. "All better!" she said, pulling away. Tarkus put some weight on the leg, and stood firm and tall as he did.

"Impressive Miracle," he said kindly. "Especially for one so young."

"Right, courtyard, this way!" Robin shouted. The journey felt surprisingly short to Solaire, with them rounding a corner of the castle twice in what felt like seconds. Before too long they were in the courtyard again. Solaire realized with relief that Lissa's concern had been baseless. While the bodies of soldiers still coated the ground, there were no more serpent men still standing. All of them had been slain.

"There are barely any wounded," Lissa said warily. It was true. While a handful of soldiers were crowded around a makeshift tent, clutching bloody gashes, the majority of them were either unharmed or dead.

"The serpent men are stronger than most men," Solaire said, glancing at the opening in his armor one of their blades had made. That it seemed that he had been luckier than most. "With that and the way they were swarming your men, it's sadly understandable that there would not be many who could keep fighting or escape once wounded. Still, remember this. There are many who will walk away today because of what we did here."

Lissa gave a small smile. "Right. Still, I should go help the ones who are wounded." With that, she made her way towards the small crowd of injuries soldiers.

"Oh Gods Robin, you're ok." Solaire had turned away from Lissa just in time to see Chrom grab his wife in a hug. Robin turned slightly red in the face, but smiled as she did the same to him, sliding her sword and tome away. He felt a warm feeling in his stomach as the two embraced. "Solaire? Is this another friend of yours?" Chrom asked, looking over Robin's shoulder at Tarkus.

"Not precisely," Tarkus said. "I must admit I am uncertain to where I am or why. I am glad that everyone is safe now, but I am terribly confused. Where am I? How did I get here from the fortress?" He cocked his head. "Why is your hair blue?"

Solaire forced down a bark of laughter. "I'm actually on the same page as him," Robin said, pulling away and looking at her husband. "What where those things? The giant? Where did they come from? Chrom, who are these people? And where's Lucina?"

As they spoke, Solaire spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Dimly flickering, it was barely visible at a distance and in the daylight, but there was no mistaking it. There was a Bonfire in the middle of the courtyard. "Your daughter is fine," Solaire said. "In fact I think we now have a way to get her back here faster than we were expecting."

"Get here back?" Robin asked. "Get her back from where?"

"It's a long story," Chrom said, sounding a little tired as he spoke. "Solaire, you can go and get Lucina back from wherever she went to right?"

"I can," Solaire said, nodding as he spoke. "It shouldn't take long."

"Well, I'll explain to Robin and…um," he glanced at Tarkus in confusion.

"Tarkus of Berenike. Though some of my brothers and sisters called me Black Iron Tarkus," Tarkus said gently.

"Very well," Solaire said. "I'll return shortly." His mind was filled with thoughts as he headed towards the bonfire. Another incursion from Lordran to here, so soon after the last one, wasn't something he had been expecting. He took another good look at the dead that filled the courtyard and felt a pang of regret. When combined, the corpses out here and inside the castle equaled at least a hundred. He wasn't sure how much time they had before something like this happened again. He prayed that they would have a respite, at the very least so they could form a plan for dealing with the Abyss. His new allies seemed reliable enough, but he doubted that they would be ready to charge into Lordran right away.

Pushing these thoughts out of his head, he knelt and reached into the Bonfire. Warmth engulfed him as he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was in Firelink Shrine. Both Fare and Lucina were sitting directly in front of the shrine's bonfire, and both were clearly not expecting his suddenly arrival. Lucina let out a tiny yelp of surprise that she attempted to bite down on, while Fare fumbled and nearly dropped the scrolls that she had been holding

"Oh, ANOTHER one," said a low, droll voice. "I remember when this place was quiet and no one else was here. And it didn't smell. Can we go back to that please?" Solaire saw the same gloomy man in chainmail that had always been in Firelink behind the two women and decided to pay him no heed.

"Gods Solaire," Lucina said. "You startled me. I wasn't expecting to see you for a few more days."

"What happened?" Fare asked. "Did you double back? Or did you find another Bonfire?"

"I apologize. And there is another bonfire at your father's castle now," Solaire said, sliding into a sitting position. "Sully was right, there was another Abyss storm there. It was attacked by creatures from this world, many died. I'm sorry," he said sincerely, remembering the dead.

Lucina's eyes widened. "Is my family all right?"

Solaire pulled off his helmet, grinning as he did. "Yes. All of them. Your father, your mother, your brother." He paused, remembering the little girl that Robin had comforted. The one that had called her "mommy." "Your little sister is safe too."

Lucina blinked. "Sister? I don't have a-oh right." She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. "I didn't tell you about that did I? Remember when I mentioned I had dealt with something similar to the Abyss before? When I fought Grima? I actually had fought him two decades in the future when he ruled the world, nearly unopposed. I used a ritual created by Naga to travel back in time with my friends, to stop Grima before he even rose. It can't be used the other way around though, so I had to stay here with my family."

"So in other words, that little girl I saw at the castle," Solaire said, putting all of the pieces together.

"Is me," Lucina said. "A younger me."

"What?" Fare said, sounding dumbfounded. "There's two of you? You traveled back in time?"

"Oh come now Fare, in Lordran heroes that have been dead for centuries have been seen," Solaire said. "Compared to that, what Lucina did was rather tame." He had to admit that he found it a little odd that he wasn't particularly shocked or confused by this now that he could see the whole picture. It did make sense though. As he had said, time was warped in Lordran, making it very easy to talk with those who had passed away hundreds of years ago. What was more, after being transported to a different world, Lucina traveling back in time to where there was another her didn't seem too impossible.

"How does that even work!?" A sentiment Fare didn't seem to share. "Are you both the same people just at different points in your life? Or are you different people now? If something permanent were to happen to your younger self, like losing an eye, would you lose an eye?"

Lucina looked slightly embarrassed. "I might have been like the other Lucina at one point, but she's certainly a different person now. She won't have to grow up in a world ruled by Grima. Hopefully she'll know a safe and peaceful life once this is over. And no, I don't think it'd work that way."

"I see," Fare said, still sounding hopelessly lost. "So she's named Lucina too? Doesn't that get confusing?"

Lucina shrugged. "It does at times, but we've gotten used to it."

"Ah," Fare said. "So how do you," she trailed off. "I mean, it's not," again she trailed off. Seeing Fare struggle to say something, Solaire decided that a change in conversation was for the best. Fare would be fine after she had had time to think about what Lucina had told her. Hopefully

"What's in those scrolls Fare?" he asked simply.

"Scrolls! Right!" Fare said, a little too quickly. Lucina's eyes met Solaire as Fare spoke, and he saw her cheeks puff up for a second, as if she was fighting down the urge to laugh. Thankfully she succeeded, and slowly her puffed cheeks slid away, to be replaced by a very kind smile. "They're Pyromancy scrolls." Solaire peered at the scrolls. The paper was worn and tearing in some areas, while the writing was sloppy and tiny in many places. He blinked. It was almost the exact opposite of Miracle scrolls, written on crisp clean paper, its writing gilded with bright gold.

"It talks about quite a few ways to channel Pyromancy. One is Iron Flesh, the ability to harden one's skin against attacks. Though I already know that one," Fare said.

"You do?" Lucina said. "Why didn't you use it when you were fighting that demon then? It could have saved you from, well, dying." Lucina had stumbled and sounded less certain when she had mentioned dying. Solaire couldn't blame her, the Darksign and the Undead were still new concepts to her.

"It takes time to prepare," Fare answered. She was speaking a little faster now, and with noticeable energy in her voice. Solaire had a distinct feeling that she was excited to talk about Pyromancy. "And there's a reason that its called Iron Flesh. It makes your skin as hard as iron but it also makes it feel as heavy as iron. I can barely move with it,especially when I'm wearing armor at the same time. What's more doesn't make my skin impenetrable so faster foes can still slip around me and slowly whittle away at me."

"I suppose that makes sense," Lucina said, sounding thoughtful. "What's the other one?"

"It looks like it's Iron Flesh's twin. Power Within," Fare said, looking back down at the scrolls and tracing a line with her finger. "If used correctly, it should be able to temporarily increase my strength."

Wait," Lucina said suddenly. "If you were to use that, couldn't you counter the downsides to Iron Flesh?"

A light seemed to ignite behind Fare's dull hazel eyes. "I never even thought about it that way. Very clever thinking Lucina. I'll have to experiment a little." Her eyes swept back and forth across the paper. She frowned. "Though it appears that Power Within has drawbacks. It allows me to utilize my inner strength to hit harder than I possibly could on my own, but I could very easily end up harming myself. It forces the body to act beyond its boundaries, in all areas. In other words, my heart could beat so hard it would rupture or I could swing my sword with so much force I could break my arm."

Solaire fought back the urge to wince. " _A powerful weapon to use. But a dangerous one,_ " he thought to himself. He had never heard of a Pyromancy that could harm the user. Then again maybe there had been a good reason for that. The scroll Fare read from looked like the private notes of a researcher. If the Lords were just and kind, he had been keeping it away from the world, so that young and inexperienced Pyromancy students didn't accidentally kill themselves with it.

"You should test that before you use it on your own," Lucina said. Then, sounding a little embarrassed, she said, "I know that's a really stupid and obvious things to say, but I just felt like I should say it."

Fare gave an appreciative nod. "I understand. I'm not about to run off and use this carelessly." Rolling up the scroll, she deposited it in her bottomless box, which she then hoisted onto her back. "Well, we should be heading back shouldn't we? Frampt told me a lot Solaire. I hope you don't mind if I wait until we're with everyone else, I'd rather not have to explain it twice in a short period of time."

"I won't complain," Solaire said. "You don't know what the castle looks like, so hold onto one of us." Fare nodded as she reached out and put a hand on Solaire's shoulder. Feeling her grip, Solaire glanced at Lucina and saw that she was reaching out towards the fire, looking directly at him. The two of them exchanged a nod before reaching into the fire, and a warm feeling flowed over him.

XXXXX

Author's Note: The actual in-game description of Power Within is actually very brief and half of it was video game jargon, so I decided to tweak it in order to get it into a more workable form.

As for Black Iron Tarkus, for those of you who don't know, Tarkus is one of the NPCs that can be summoned in game to help fight a boss, the Iron Golem in his case. Tarkus is unique in that he is so strong that he's actually capable of taking the boss on by itself, something I have actually introduced first hand. There's also the fact that he's rather big but still smaller than the rest of the knights of Berenike, who are freaking huge. I dropped a couple of hints about where I'm going with this and I plan on getting more into that later. Well, that's all I think I need to cover in this note. Message me or leave a review if I forgot anything. Hopefully I'll be able to update this story again sometimes before 2017


	5. Strategy

Chapter 5

Strategy

XXXXX

Fare felt a sensation of softness covering her entire body and almost felt like she was sinking into the ground she was sitting on. She thought back to everywhere she had been and tried to remember where she had been that was this comfortable. Firelink Shrine could sometimes be a very pleasant place to sleep in at times, but it hadn't been nearly this warm. A few times she had slept in the building that Andre of Astora called home in Undead Parish, which had been this warm. However, the stone there had been hard and uncomfortable.

Her eyes slowly slid open and she remembered where she was. She was in a guest bedroom in the castle in Ylisstol, the capital of Ylisse, a wide open room filled with elegant, shiny, dark furniture. A dresser, cabinet, a desk and something she was half certain was called a vanity were all laid out in front of her bed, which she realized was dazzlingly large. Three people could have comfortably slept in it without so much as grazing each other.

Fare threw back the covers and looked down at the bed she had slept in, feeling rather overwhelmed. No one in the Great Swamp had had luxuries even comparable to this. Half of the village she had come from had slept on dirt floors. She had slept comfortably in this bed, yet at the same time she felt odd. This wasn't the life she had lived growing up and she simply wasn't sure how to react.

Climbing out of bed, she saw her armor and equipment in a small pile near the base. She spent a good while going through the complicated process of donning her armor, sliding her shield onto her back, fastening both of her swords to her side and buckling on the bottomless box. Eventually, she was fully armored with the exception of her helmet. She looked down at it in her hands, frowning.

Chrom and Lucina seemed to almost always be armed and armored so she doubted following their example would be taken as an insult. Keeping her face covered while a guest in their keep, however, might be seen as simply rude. Neither of them seemed to wear helmets. Now that Fare thought about it, the red headed woman named Sully didn't seem to wear a helmet either. Even in combat. Fare hoped this wasn't something that was very widespread.

Deciding to forgo her helmet for now, she tucked it under her arm and opened the door to her room. It had been five days since she had arrived there. It was comfortable and Chrom was a very pleasant host, but at the same time Fare wanted to leave as soon as possible. For the first time she had a clear path and a certain end goal in front of her. Chrom had insisted on gathering his most trusted warriors however, and Solaire had thought that it was a good idea. So they had waited at the castle as they trickled in, at a maddeningly slow pace.

The last of them should have arrived today, thankfully. With any luck, by noon Fare would be back in Lordran, gathering the Lord Souls. She smiled as she turned in the long, bright white hallway that she was in and began to walk to the chamber where she had often met with Chrom, Lucina and the others. It was early but there might be someone there already, it had happened once or twice.

Fare continued to walk but was interrupted as a small figure exited a side door, standing up on the tips of its toes to grab the door knob and close it behind her. As the figure turned, Fare saw that it was a child, a little girl with long blue hair in a light blue dress. Fare felt a shock of surprise. This had to be the younger Lucina that she had been told about, she had seen no one else around the castle with hair that shade of blue aside from Chrom and her younger brother Morgan. Even without that, the age was just about right and she simply looked like a much younger Lucina.

The young girl looked up, noticing Fare for the first time, and let out a small, "Eep!" Her hands flew towards her face, pressing a dark blue mask over it. It had a rather interesting design, the eye holes being slits much like the visor on Fare's helmet, and was rather thin in the middle with the sides spreading out. It gave the mask a very butterfly like look.

"I'm sorry," Fare said kindly, lowering herself to one knee. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The young Lucina swallowed audibly. "W-who are you?" she asked. "Father said we had guests. He told me that I wouldn't want to be near his meetings with them." She swallowed again. "H-he said that they would be boring. Are you o-one of them?"

" _I get the feeling Chrom doesn't want her to panic about the thread the Abyss posses,"_ Fare thought. _"She was already in the middle of a massive attack judging from what Solaire said."_ "Yes, your father and I have been meeting the past few days. Nothing that interesting."

Lucina pressed the mask even harder into her face. "But you weren't here when those monsters came. You only showed up after. You and Father are talking about them a-aren't you."

Fare blinked as she looked at the young girl. " _She's smarter than her father realizes,"_ she thought to herself, " _She hasn't figured it all out, but she's putting the pieces of the puzzle together."_ Fare let out a sigh of exhaustion as she slid down into a sitting position, slumping against the wall as she did. "Yes. We are." Lucina was onto her and she didn't have the will to lie. Nonetheless, she decided to keep things simple.

"I'm from far away, from a kingdom you've certainly never heard of," Fare said. "Monsters like the ones that came here have overrun it. My friend and I found a way to save it. Your father has promised to help us." Slowly, Lucina lowered the mask from her face, looking directly into Fare's eyes as she did. Mirroring Fare's movements, she sat down, positioning herself right next to her.

"Is Father going to be ok?" she asked. Her voice was trembling, and Fare wasn't sure if she was scared or was about to cry.

" _I'm so stupid,"_ Fare thought, angry at herself. " _She's just a child. I never should have said anything to her, Chrom didn't want to and he's her father. I had no right to do this."_ She had gone too far to back out now though. Even children knew that a person would stay silent if didn't want to admit a terrible truth. "Yes," she said. "He'll be fighting with me and my friends. We won't let anything happen to him or Lucina." The very second she said the last word she realized her error.

"Lucina?" It was clear that the young girl knew right away that Fare had been speaking about her older counterpart. "She's going too?" Fare nodded stiffly, wanting to kick herself. "But you'll keep her safe right? You'll keep both of them safe?" Fare nodded, more loosely this time. She did want to keep Lucina and Chrom safe, but she still felt that them not stepping foot in Lordran would be the best way to do that. As horrible as the Darksign was, she could come back from death. They couldn't.

"Do you promise?" Lucina asked.

Fare felt her stomach sink as the girl asked her the question. Fighting the fallen Lords, trekking through the corrupted land of Lordran and enduring the onslaught of the Abyss were the most dangerous tasks she could think of. She had a horrible feeling, an overwhelming sense of dread, that no many how skilled their new allies were, some of them would die. No matter how hard she tried to prevent it.

Her mouth didn't seem to realize this. "Of course sweetheart," she said. Reaching out, she gently patted the top of Lucina's head. "I promise. I'll bring both of them back safe and sound." For the first time since Fare had met her, the young Lucina smiled. " _Mother of Fire, please. I beg of you. Don't let me be a liar,"_ Fare thought. "What's that mask?" she asked, pointing at the blue butterfly mask Lucina was still holding. Anything seemed preferable to this current topic.

"Oh, Lucina gave it to me," Lucina said. Fare could feel her head spinning as she struggled to keep up with which Lucina was which. "I sometimes feel scared and it helps me feel brave. She had one just like it when she came back from the fu-" Lucina stopped mid-sentence and clapped her hand over her mouth, looking horrorstruck. "She…she said that was a secret," she whispered, more to herself than Fare.

Not wanting the child to get the wrong impression, Fare quickly said, "It's ok, she already told me. She traveled through time to stop Grima. She told me because I had to do something like it. I'm from a different world, a place called Lordran." Lucina looked relieved.

"Oh!" she said. "So you're just like Lucina then. You came here and now Father is going to help you stop the bad guys!" she said, her voice now cheerful.

" _I need to learn to keep my mouth shut,"_ Fare thought to herself, but forced a smile and nodded. "Yup. That's what we're going to do. So, Lucina gave you that mask?"

Lucina nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh! She said that anytime I was scared I should just put it on. To help me feel braver." She looked down at the mask. "She told me how scary it can be to fight the bad guys. But she said that she has to be brave and do it anyway." She turned back to Fare. "I want to be just like her when I grow up."

"Good choice," Fare said warmly. "She's a very admirable woman. I'm glad that she's helping me."

"She's a really good fighter!" Lucina said excitedly, springing to her feet. "She's got this really old sword that Naga made! And she's really good with it! She can just swing it like this and cut a log in half!" Raising her hands above her head, Lucina let out a mock war cry and brought her hands down, as off she was swinging an invisible sword. "And sometimes she cuts through them like this!" She spun around, this time swinging as if to cut imaginary logs horizontally, but she spun a little too far. She tittered on the spot for a second before she overbalanced. Fare lunged forward and tried to catch her, but Lucina had already landed on her rear.

"Ouch," she said, getting back up. "My butt…" She flushed a deep red with embarrassment. "Lucina's a lot better at it than I am."

"One day you'll be even better than I am." The younger Lucina's eyes lit up with delight as she turned. The older Lucina was walking down the hallway with a smile on her face. Another woman with purple hair was right beside her, who Fare recognized as Robin.

"Lucina! Mommy!" the younger Lucina squealed with delight, running towards them as fast as her tiny legs would carry her.

Robin gave a warm, caring smile as she knelt down and hugged her daughter. "Entertaining our guest?" she said kindly as the younger Lucina hugged her mother as much as her arms would allow.

"Uh-huh!" she said with enthusiasm. "She and Father are gonna kick all of the bad guys butts! Lucina will too!"

Lucina stifled a giggle and Fare felt herself smiling at the same time. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen someone as innocent as the younger Lucina. She supposed Solaire was innocent to some degree, but nowhere near as much as the young girl in front of her was. "You got that right Lucina," the older Lucina said. "We're gonna kick all of their butts."

"You heard your big sister," Robin said. "But we've got to do some planning first. It's going to take some time, but we'll get it done fast. Why don't you run to the kitchen and have breakfast? Uncle Lon'Qu should be there, he always eats at this time."

The younger Lucina nodded. "And because you'll be there mommy, they'll be the best plans ever!"

Robin smiled. "Well if you want them to be the best plans ever, I'll have to give it my all! Mommy does have to go now dear. I'll come get you when we're done."

"Ok!" the younger Lucina said happily. "Bye mommy! Bye Lucina! Bye Fare!" As she finished, she ducked into a side hallway and quickly disappeared from Fare's line of sight.

"Well, she certainly seems to like you," Robin said, approaching Fare. "I'm glad. She can be shy around strangers sometimes."

"That's a fine daughter you have," Fare said.

"Oh, thank you," Lucina said. Fare and Robin both laughed. "Anyway, it's a little early but Chrom is already calling a meeting, he wants to get last minute preparations done."

Robin nodded. "And there's quite a bit we need to get done. I'm most certainly not letting my husband and daughter walk off into a realm that's been described as death incarnate. So we need to make sure the kingdom can run without its King and Queen directly leading them."

Fare nodded. "Certainly makes sense, after all you can't-" but Fare's words caught in her throat. She repeated Robin's last sentence in her head. The words reverberated inside of her as she dumbly realized what they meant. She must have misheard Robin. She must have. "I'm sorry," she said slowly, feeling a tad bit sluggish. "But surely your King and Queen aren't coming along with us are they?"

Robin blinked, looking confused. "I thought it was already established Chrom was going along with you. I know I just told you I'm accompanying him but that-"

"CHROM IS KING!?" Fare blurted out, utterly flabbergasted. "But he-if he's-then you," disjointed thoughts swirled through her head as she put what she had just learned into the context of the last five days and the situation that she was currently in. She had been making idle talk with the very King of this land, and right now she was standing in front of his wife. "YOU'RE THE QUEEN!?" she said as the realization hit her.

Robin took a step back in surprise at Fare's outburst, confusion covering her face. "She took a glance at Lucina. "You and Chrom told her about this didn't you?"

"Of course we did," Lucina said, looking equally confused. "We met her in the outlying village, I went to Lordran with her, and then we…" Lucina slowly trailed off. She began to lift her fingers up, one at a time, muttering under her breath. After a few seconds, she stopped. As she did, her eyes widened and her face turned a dark, deep, shade of red. "Oh Gods," she whispered. "I never mentioned it. I forgot."

The confusion disappeared from Robin's face, and a knowing smile replaced it. "You know, you really can be like your father at times," she said. "When we first met, he didn't tell me he was a prince until we were walking up to the castle gates and pointing out that the Exalt at the time was his big sister." Lucina let out a weak laugh, her face darkening

"I-I'm so sorry your majesty," Fare said. Desperately, she threw herself back to her life in the Great Swamp, trying to remember how to compose yourself in front of royalty. This wasn't like meeting Gwynevere where she had been expected and had had some status in the form of being the Chosen Undead. She was in a land where she was as good as a peasant and she was standing right in front of the woman who ruled it. She vaguely recalled her mother saying that the polite thing to do was to make a curtsey, lifting up the hem of your dress and bending your knees. The question was how you lifted up the hem of your dress when you were wearing a suit of armor.

Robin was still smiling however. "Never really was fond of being called your majesty," she said. "Chrom's never been either and he was born into the royal family. I only married in. If we were upset the way you were acting around us, we would have told you. My family and I don't particularly care for lording our status over others and prefer it when we can talk to them as equals. Chrom in particular has made it a habit to make friends with as many soldiers under his command as he can."

"I-really?" Fare said, feeling shocked. "I've never…never heard of royalty acting that way before." It was true. Even nobility that visited the Great Swamp demanded a great deal of respect from the common people, more often than not feeling no need to show any in return.

Now that she had thought about it, they often had had very lavish outfits, long flowing dresses and tunics trimmed with fur, bright gold necklaces and rings with giant gems, swords with jewels embedded in the hilt that looked like they were meant for display, not fighting. More often than not they had complained at great length about all of the mud that they got on them.

Robin and Lucina on the other hand, weren't wearing anything like that. Robin had a purple coat on of some kind and a white undershirt, while Lucina was in a blue tunic and had a cape of the same color behind her. Their clothes still looked far more expensive than any peasant could dream of affording, but compared to the occasional noble she had seen, they looked positively tame.

"Well around here we enjoy defying expectations," Robin said happily. "Now then, shall we head to the meeting?" Fare nodded, feeling a bit dizzy. She had almost bene getting used to this other world, though now she had a feeling it was because she didn't truly understand it yet. If Robin, Lucina and Chrom were anything to go by, this place would be much less like her world than she had thought, even before the Abyss that corrupted it.

Her head still buzzing, she was barely paying attention as she mindlessly followed Robin and Lucina, taking the same bends and twists as them until finally they were right outside the meeting room. "Everyone should be there by now, Chrom wanted an early start this morning," Robin said, grabbing the knob to the door. Twisting it, she pushed it open and the three of them stepped inside.

Around two dozen people were sitting around a large round table (though Fare noticed that Tarkus was standing.) She instantly recognized Solaire and Oscar with their helmets off, sitting at the side nearest to her, Tiki sitting nearby. Chrom and Lissa were at the head of the table, both of them speaking with some people Fare didn't recognize. In fact, with the exception of Sully at the far end of the table, Fare didn't really know anyone here. Many of them looked like they had only just arrived yesterday.

A blue haired man in rather flowery clothing was talking to Sully, who had an amused look on her face. A woman in bright white armor and flowing red that nearly reached her waist spoke to a woman with brownish-greyish hair in slightly darker but similar armor. Fare was about to sit down and ask Robin or Lucina who all of these people were when she saw something that made her gawk.

A woman with skin even darker than hers and purple tattoos on her face was standing next to Chrom, and she was wearing the most bizarre outfit she had ever seen. High heels and see through stockings, which led up to something that seemed to act like a skirt but barely had another to the front and acted like a cape at the back, all of it pitch black. All of this seemed to be part of the same article of clothing that acted as her top, which had a bizarre array of feathers sticking up behind her head, and a slit down the middle which heavily exposed her cleavage. At that very second, Fare realized this woman was _very_ well endowed.

An uncomfortable feeling filled her stomach as she looked, and instinctively she turned her head away. She grabbed a chair and pulled it out when she heard a cry coming from the exact direction that she had just come from. "I see you!" Fare froze. Was she talking to her? It wasn't necessarily that, she hadn't specified who the "who" was. She straightened her back and started to form an apology for staring just in case she needed one, when a blur of black shot past her, heading straight for Robin.

"Oh big sister, really? I finally come to visit and you don't even have the decency to be there?" There was a scornful tone on the woman's face but it didn't reach her face, which had a playful smile on it.

Robin gave an exasperated sigh, but there was a faint grin curling around her lips as well. "You did happen to arrive in the middle of the night when I was fast asleep. Your timing could stand to be improved."

The woman scoffed, but it ended up being a very unconvincing one. She was snickering, and eventually burst out laughing, Robin joining in. "Oh it's good to see you again," she woman said, putting a hand on Robin's shoulder. "I see you managed to find a little band of new friends while I was gone. Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"What in the Mother's name?" Fare whispered. She shot a glance at Lucina, mentally begging for the blue haired swordswoman to help her understand. Thankfully, she noticed.

"That's Aversa," she said, leaning towards Fare and whispering in her ear. "They're not related by blood but Robin's father adopted her."

"I thought Robin's father was a Grima cult leader," Fare whispered back, remembering what Solaire had told her after she had returned from Lordran.

Lucina gave a grimace. "He was. Robin never really knew him, but he did raise Aversa. He indoctrinated her when she was a child into being a loyal servant. We actually came to blows with her a few times when we were fighting Grima's servants, but eventually she came over to our side."

"Lucina, are you spreading nasty little rumors about auntie? That's not very nice you know." Lucina and Fare both jerked to face Aversa, who was now approaching them, a bit of sway to her step. She wasn't paying much attention to Lucina however, her sight was set directly on Fare. "And who are you? My niece seems to have taken a likening to you."

"She is Fare of the Great Swamp," Oscar said. His back was to Aversa from where he was sitting, and his voice was surprisingly cold. "The Chosen Undead, the one chosen to succeed Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight and the one destined to free Lordran from the blight of the Abyss."

Fare was halfway torn between being frustrated at Oscar for throwing all of that out right away and simply wondering if Aversa even knew what half of those words meant. "Oh so that's her huh? Robin sent me a letter that told me all about you and this quest that you need to go on." Her eyes slid up and down, taking Fare in. Fare fidgeted slightly, not sure how to react to the busty woman staring at her.

"I have to say, I like the theme that you have going on," she said, in a tone that put the comment somewhere between being a playful insult and a genuine compliment. "The warrior queen, sitting on her throne in full armor, perhaps while its still stained with the blood of her enemies." She glanced over her shoulder at Robin. "That'd be an interesting little contrast. The queen who married the king for true love and the queen who took the throne with her blood-soaked hands. It'd make the weakly tea-parties you would insist on holding entertaining at the very least. At least she's better than your husband, she has two shoulder plates instead of just one. One's a bit smaller than the other, but they're both there."

Fare could feel her brain straining as she heard what Aversa was saying. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucina giving her a sympathetic look, along with a shrug. "She is not going to be a queen, she is going to be a Lord," Oscar said through gritted teeth. "A queen can't even compare to the Lord."

"Well I suppose they don't compare," Aversa said, looking at the back of the knight's head. "Lords kiss all the right feet to get their position while queens are born to the right people. The difference between life and day."

Fare was starting to get a little worried now, Oscar's hands were visibly shaking. If this kept up he might lose his temper. Thankfully, Robin intervened. "All right, all right, that's enough out of you." she said, grabbing the feathers on the back of Aversa's outfit and pulling her back. Her adopted sister stumbled as she was forced backwards, her arms windmilling as she attempted to maintain balance. Somehow she managed to not fall over.

"You're no fun," Aversa said, pouting slightly but there was a glitter in her eyes.

Fare couldn't help but gape at her. " _If we were in Lordran this woman would be suspected of going Hollow,"_ she thought.

"I hope she won't be joining us when we return to Lordran," Oscar said, his voice thick with venom. "We'll be making history, and I'd rather not be fighting alongside someone who doesn't respect the magnitude of what we're attempting to achieve."

"I do believe you're overreacting Oscar," Solaire said, his voice cautious but firm. "She clearly isn't being serious. She's merely teasing you."

"It's a lack of respect," Oscar growled. "This is everything to us, and she just stands there and mocks it?"

"She is our ally, if she were not to show any respect our plight, she would not stand with us at all," Tarkus said, his gruff voice low. Oscar looked and both knights on either side of him before letting out a small grunt and looking forward at nothing in particular.

Aversa placed her hands over her chest. "Oh. You two boys. Standing up for me. You're so sweet." She leaned forward, flaunting her chest. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do to repay you."

Tarkus audibly swallowed. "That will not be necessary," he said in a strained voice. His gaze focused on the black clad woman for a few seconds before he suddenly turned on the spot, facing the table. Fare had a feeling that Tarkus was very glad that he was still wearing his helmet.

"Yes, after all it is in our nature to help those who need it," Solaire said. Unlike Tarkus, he didn't seem to react to Aversa's advances at all. He simply flashed her a friendly grin.

Aversa blinked in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. "Oh, but there must be something I could do for you. Something you secretly long for?"

Solaire shook his head. "I am afraid not," he said happily. "Your standing beside us is all that I need." Aversa drooped slightly. She almost looked disappointed.

"Are you sure that-" she began, but was cut off as Robin grabbed her by both shoulders and forcefully pushed her into a chair.

"Enough," she said sternly. "You've had more than enough time to play your tricks on everyone." Aversa nodded glumly.

Fare sat down next to Solaire, feeling dumbfounded by what had just happened. Lucina sat down next to her, her face slightly pink around the edges. "Aversa, or auntie Aversa as she likes me to call her, likes to get under people's skin," she said.

"I don't think that fully describes what she just did," Fare said, still feeling disoriented.

Lucina let out a weak chuckle. "She's not so bad once you get to know her. She really does care about others. She just has a weird way of showing it to everyone."

Fare couldn't help but feel that that was a massive understatement. Wanting to take her mind off of Aversa, she looked towards the head of the table, hoping that Chrom would bring things to order soon. He didn't disappoint her. "Friends!" he said, his voice not quite a shout but still loud enough to get everyone else to fall silent and turn their attention towards him. "Three years ago, all of you fought by my side against Grima and his ilk. Three years ago we saved the world from being covered in darkness. Three years ago, we thought we brought about peace."

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But sadly, there's a new threat, the Abyss. Just as powerful as Grima, and it threatens not just our world, but worlds beyond." Fare noticed that while a couple of the people sitting around at the table seemed nervous and even a little scared, they didn't seem very surprised. Robin and Chrom must've sent out detailed letters to more people than just Aversa.

"If we don't act now, it will consume our world just as it is consuming the world it was birthed from right now," Chrom continued. "But we have a way to stop it." He extended his hand, gesturing in the direction of Fare and the other warriors from Lordran. "Our new friends from the world choked by the Abyss. One of them has found the answer." He nodded at Fare. Fighting back the urge to swallow, she got to her feet.

"Every living being has a soul," she said, feeling nervous but doing her best to not let it show. "The more powerful the being, the larger and greater the soul. The secret to ending the Abyss lies in the Kiln of the First Flame, which can only be opened with the greatest of souls, the Lord Souls." She waited for a second. No one asked her what a Lord Souls was. Another thing they already knew.

"We need four, and there are only four to be found," Fare said. "The soul of the dragon Seath the Scaleless, the soul of Gravelord Nito, the soul of the Four Kings, and the soul of the Witch of Izalith that was stolen. We need to hunt down all of these souls if we are to stop the Abyss, and we will need to take all of them by force." She inhaled deeply. "I want to thank you all for what you are about to do. Lordran is a nightmarish land where death lurks around every corner. It takes bravely to march into it willingly." She spotted a few smiles flashed in her direction, and felt a little less nervous.

"Now that we have our objective, the question is what is our plan of attack?" Chrom asked. "I myself find that the best approach would be to march a thousand men into Lordran, and to-"

"I beg your pardon Lord Chrom," Tarkus said, interrupting Chrom. "I do not believe that would be a wise idea."

All eyes focused on Tarkus, including Fare's. "Why not?" Chrom asked. It wasn't irritated or challenging, it was a simple question.

"My king tried to do the very same," Tarkus answered, and his voice seemed to droop a little. "The Darksign was beginning to spread through Berenike. He declared a crusade. Tens of thousands of knights and men at arms, many giant like me, marched into Lordran." Tarkus twitched, ever so slightly, and his voice grew stiff. "We made it to Sen's Fortress, the path to Anor Londo, where the answers lied. I was…I was the only person of that crusade to survive beyond Sen's Fortress."

A heavy silence filled the room after that. Fare had no idea what to say, and apparently neither did anyone else. She had encountered a few Hollow Berenike knights when she had made her own trek through Sen's Fortress, but she had no idea that it had been the site of a massacre like that.

"Lordran is not a kingdom, not anymore," Tarkus said grimly. "There are no farms, no roads, no stability of any kind. Not only will you struggle to feed and move a force of that size, but you will not be fighting against another army. You will be fighting the land itself. Fare is right, death is everywhere in Lordran. The Hollows, the demons and countless other monsters will attack you. Not in an organized mass, but bit by bit, slowly chipping away at you. Against the seemingly endless swarms that will face you, any army will slowly be bled dry as every skirmish claims lives you can't afford to lose."

His hand reached up and gripped the iron chalice that hung around his neck. "As I said, we made it to Sen's Fortress, but we were in a sorry state. Most of the crusade was dead, half of the survivors were wounded, but we followed our king when he ordered us forward. Our army, the might of Berenike, all destroyed." He looked down at the chalice, tightening his grip on it, and muttered something under his breath that Fare couldn't hear. He continued to stare for a few seconds, before he noticed that there wasn't a single person that wasn't looking directly at him. I'm…I'm sorry," he said meekly.

"That's quite all right," Chrom said, sounding a little shocked from Tarkus' revelation. "In that case, may I suggest a small team? Comprised of the best warriors that we have? We would require less food, could maneuver better, and would be less likely to be bogged down with fighting." Tarkus nodded without speaking. He had gone eerily quiet, looking at the floor as if in shame.

"That is a strong idea," Solaire said. "Many times in Lordran the few have done what the many could not."

"That begs the question," Sully said from where she was sitting next to the blue haired man. "Who's going and who's staying?"

"Considering that we will be fighting four different enemies in different locations, it would be in our best interest to have our teams be based the most effective approach against them," Robin said. Reaching into her robe, she produced a handful of papers that were covered with tiny writing. "I've been working on some possibilities with the information we have," she said. "Fare, do you have any suggestions?"

"No matter who it is we're facing, Solaire, Oscar and I should always be there," Fare said certainly.

Solaire looked at her with a gentle look of understanding and gratitude, but Oscar jumped in his seat. "Chosen Undead," he said, sounding flattered. "It would be my honor."

Fare gave a quick nod. "We're all Undead. Dying and coming back is one of the most miserable experiences a person can experience, but we can come back from death. No one else here can." There were a few whispers as she spoke. She wasn't too surprised. Even if they had been told about the Darksign, she could easily imagine how strange it would feel to have someone claim they could defy death.

Robin nodded. "Understandable. Now then, there's a few gaps in my data, we've been in such a rush these past few days. What do you know about what we're up against? And where are they located?"

"Seath the Scaleless is a dragon, but he doesn't have the stone scales of an Everlasting Dragon," Fare said. "He's still quite powerful however, he's the grandfather of all human used sorcery. He's hiding in his castle near Anor Londo. Nito is the first of the Undead and a master of necromancy. His domain is deep underground through a tunnel filled with animated corpses, within a place called the Tomb of the Giants."

While she was speaking, she heard Lissa yelp. "A necromancer in a giant graveyard?" she said, sounding terrified. Fare didn't blame her. It was a particularly deadly combination

"The Four Kings dwell in the Abyss through the New Anor Londo ruins," Fare said. "In order to survive in there we'll need the ring of the fallen Artorias the Abysswalker. I don't know the first thing about them. And the demons hide in the ancient ruins of Izalith." Fare felt a pang of hatred as she thought about the demons. The ones who had stolen the soul of the Mother of Fire. Desecrating her remains after she had sacrificed herself. She would take the soul back from their foul hands.

Remembering where she was, Fare shook her head to snap herself back to the meeting. Robin was scribbling furiously in her notes. "Not much to go off of ," she said. "Just basic, bare bones information for the most part."

Fare bit her lip. She was right. "I'm sorry," she said. "In some ways I'm just as in the dark as you are. This is all Frampt told me and these beings have been in hiding for so long barely anyone knows the first thing about them"

"Don't apologize, it's better than nothing," Robin said. "Now then, we need to decide something that's going to make no one happy. Which one do we go after first? This may sound odd, but since the majority of us are unfamiliar with Lordran, it'd be in our best interest to be given some time to adjust and not charge in directly at the strongest foe we have"

"The Abyss part sounds like suicide," Sully called from across the table. "I mean it sounds like there's only one ring, so even if it does work whoever puts it on is on their own. And I'm assuming the four in Four Kings isn't just for show."

"There's also the matter of New Anor Londo still being flooded," Solaire said. "Even if we could survive in the Abyss, there's no way to get to it the way things are."

Robin frowned. "The Four Kings are going to have to wait then," she said, crossing something out.

"If this Gravelord Nito is underground, we'd be at a bit of a disadvantage," the woman with flowing long red hair said. "We wouldn't be able to use either our calvary or our Pegasus Knights." Fare was just wondering what exactly a Pegasus was as the woman continued. "I understand we'll have to head there eventually, but like you said Robin, we should be finding the easiest one to take right now."

The answer became very clear to Fare. If It couldn't be the Four Kings and it couldn't be Nito, there was only one option left. "It should be Seath then," she said. "From the way Frampt worded it, an entire swarm of demons are hiding in Izalith, Seath is just one dragon." She really didn't want to reclaim Seath's soul first. The idea of plunging into the depths of Izalith, reclaiming the Mother of Fire's soul, the soul of the mother of all Pyromancy, felt much more appealing to her. She felt a surge of annoyance towards everyone around her. In a way, they were handicapping her ability to act.

" _What is wrong with you!?"_ she angrily asked herself. _"These people are putting their lives on the line and helping you fulfill your destiny? Are you honestly getting mad at them because they're not approaching life threatening tasks in exactly the right order?"_ Fare didn't feel annoyed anymore, merely ashamed in herself.

"Only a dragon?" Sully said. "If you said that to most people, they'd think you were insane." She let out a small chuckle. "Luckily you're talking to people who have dealt with dragons before. Quick question. Is he larger or smaller than a city?"

Fare's eyes widened. A city? What was she talking about? "Uh," she said. She had never seen a dragon before, only the red wyvern that had been lurking about Undeadburg. Dragons were supposed to be more intelligent and powerful than wyverns, but no one had ever said anything about them being bigger. "Around the size of a couple of smaller buildings," she said, remembering the size of the wyvern.

Sully snorted. "In other words he's a runt compared to Grima. Chrom could probably take him on his own with Falchion. Falchion's a magical sword in case you didn't know, especially effective against dragons. And we've got two of them."

" _Well if that's the case we really should be going after Seath first_ ," she thought. Something was still bothering her though. "You were exaggerating earlier weren't you? Grima couldn't have been that big."

"He actually was," Lucina said. "We fought an entire battle on his back. There were hundreds of his servants there, defending him. We had to swarm forwards the front and overwhelm the guard around his head."

" _How could anything kill a beast of that size?_ " Fare thought. _"Every time I think I start to understand this world, it baffles me all over again."_ She was still absorbing the concept of the dragon the size of a city with two armies clashing on its back when Robin spoke up.

"Certainly seems like our best bet," she said. "The problem is that Fare did say that he was in a castle. Like with Nito our calvary won't be able to be used there. Our Pegasus Knights might still be able to contribute however. Dropping warriors up on the upper levels." So whatever a Pegasus was it could reach the top of a castle, Fare realized. Maybe it was a small sort of cousin to dragons, a domesticated breed. "Cordellia, you and Sumia will be helping us in that regard." The red haired woman nodded while the brownish-grayish haired woman next to her jumped in surprise.

"The two of you will drop a pair of our warriors off top and then dismount and accompany them," Robin said. "The rest of us will approach through ground level. This way we attack the castle from two different angles and decrease the chance of us being bottlenecked. The main group will be moving more slowly, drawing anything that might be hiding out into the open, while your group works their way down and eventually attack from behind. If it turns out to be the case that is. We could very easily work our way through on our own, but it's best to have a contingency plan."

"The real purpose for this is simple. This way we have a better way of tracking Seath down when we have two separate parties looking for him." She frowned. "Of course, if either group encounters something that is too much for them, they are to withdraw immediately. The other group can press on if they are able."

"I should be part of the group up top," Fare said, getting to her feet. "There can only be four and two of them need to be your riders? Then I should be there. Both parties should have Undead with them."

"I don't see any problem with that," Sumia said politely, bowing in Fare's direction. "You can ride with me. But Robin, who will ride with Cordellia?"

"Fare insists that each group should have an Undead with them. Personally, I think each group should also have a Falchion with them," Robin said. "Lucina?"

"You don't even need to ask," her daughter said confidently.

"Well that settles that," Robin said. "For the second group-"

"Just a moment!" Oscar interjected. "If it's all the same to you, I would very much like to accompany the Chosen Undead myself."

Robin paused. "I suppose it might be for the best if that group was brought up to the top was a bit bigger. But if you're serious about going with them, you need to be ready to accept what goes with it." She looked at her adopted sister. "Aversa, would you be up to joining the group at the top?"

Aversa gave a gleeful smirk as she looked at Oscar. "That'd be my pleasure." Oscar's face twitched. Fare fought back the urge to groan. She wondered if it was two late to swap places with Solaire. More than likely it was, considering that Oscar seemed to be set on following her. Swapping out now would throw everything Robin had thrown to gather into chaos with that as a factor.

"As I was saying," Robin said, ignoring the excited look her sister was giving Oscar. "The second group with be of the same size. It will compose of myself, Chrom, Lissa, Tiki, Solaire, and Tarkus."

Chrom looked around. "If anyone has any objections to this plan, now would be a good time to bring them up. Otherwise we're going ahead with it."

There was silence for a few seconds, and Fare thought the plan was universally approved. Until the blue haired man near Sully spoke up. "Chrom, I'm surprised that you would insult me like this. A dangerous mission to save the world and you're leaving my lovely wife behind? What has she done to offend you?" Sully punched him in the arm, but she was laughing as she did it, something nearly everyone else followed suit on. Even Fare found herself clamping her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles that were pouring out.

"The next one," Chrom said. "Well if no one else is upset that I'm not risking the lives of their spouse, that'll be all. Be assembled in the courtyard in six hours prepared to enter hostile territory. Put any affairs you have in order. We may be gone for awhile. I have faith in all of you though that we will all come back." With that, chairs were pushed out and people got to their feet, talking among themselves.

Wanting to get away from the sudden increase in noise, Fare ducked out of the room and into the hallway, closely followed by Solaire. "It's a shame that we'll be parting ways again," he said. "But we'll meet again soon enough."

"I'm sorry that our approach splits the two of you up. I'm sure mother would've put you together if she could have found away." Fare had not seen Lucina approach them, but all of a sudden she was walking alongside them. "Are you two ready? Is there anything you need me to get you? A whetstone? A fresh set of armor? Maybe a dagger just in case you lose your sword?"

Solaire let out a small chuckle. "This armor of mine may be getting old, but it serves me well, always has."

Fare nodded. "Also there's what happened with Oscar. After that," she paused for a second, trying to force the words out, "I'd rather keep this."

"Of course," Lucina said. "Well if you're ready I was wonder thing something. Maybe, if you wouldn't mind, we could head into the castle town and go shopping?" She spat out her sentences, as if they were something she wanted to get over with.

Fare was taken aback. They would be marching on Seath's castle later today, and Lucina wanted to go shopping? It didn't throw her off as much as Aversa's antics had, but she certainly hadn't been expecting him. "What for?" were the first two words out of her mouth, the only thing she could think to ask.

"Well, what do you want?" Lucina asked, sounding rather bashful. "If you can't get it in the castle town you probably can't get it anywhere in Ylisse. I doubt they have very many comforts in Lordran, there must be something you miss."

Fare hesitated. Lucina wasn't wrong, there were quite a few things that she missed from her life before becoming Undead, pastimes and minor luxuries that she wouldn't mind experiencing again. "I doubt they'll accept souls though," Fare said.

"What?" Lucina said, sounding confused. "Souls? Are you going to sell them the Lord Souls or something?"

"Not exactly," Fare said. "Remember when I said every living thing has a soul? When we kill, we absorb fragments of soul from our victim. Beings with smaller souls that is, larger larger souls remain intact and can be collected whole. At bonfires we can find the souls we have collected to our own, causing our souls to grow and become stronger, our bodies following suit. With the lack of order in Lordran, souls have become an unofficial currency."

Lucina looked utterly horrified at the concept, something that Fare couldn't blame her for. The thought of trading bits of what made a living thing them had made her uncomfortable as well at first. She smiled weakly. "Lordran is a dark place isn't it?"

"Yes," Lucina said, a shake to her voice. "But that's why I want to do this before we find ourselves in the middle of that nightmare of a land." Somehow, to Fare's surprise, a smile managed to make its way back across her face. "Good times to think back on, and a taste of a future to fight towards."

Fare couldn't remember the last time anyone had suggesting anything even remotely similar to this. "I'm still not sure," she said hesitantly. "I don't have any money after all."

Lucina grinned. "Princess, remember? Money isn't a huge concern for us."

" _Right,"_ Fare thought. " _Forgot about that."_

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Solaire said. "Was there anyplace in particular that you wanted to start Lucina?"

"Well, there is this tailor that sells these rather pretty looking dresses," Lucina said. "How does that sound Fare?"

Fare felt herself getting a little hot in the face. "I never actually wore a dress before," she admitted. "My village wasn't really the place for it."

"Well, first time for everything. I used to be utterly clueless on the matter." As she spoke, she gave a nervous laugh. "May have bought something for my mother that turned out to be a horrible idea in hindsight."

"I suppose I could give it a shot," Fare said. She wasn't feeling particular sure about this, but really there was no downside to it. At worst, she would suffer some wounded pride if things went badly.

"Sadly I feel that I will be of minimal help on the matter," Solaire said. "I happen to the lack expertise needed to give good advice." Fare and Lucina chuckled. "Nontheless, this does sound like it'll be a rather enjoyable time. Where to after?"

"Oh I can think of quite a few places," Lucina said. "I don't want to give everything away though, I'd like one or two things to be a pleasant surprise."

"Certainly understandable," Solaire said. "Thank you dearly for the offer Lucina."

"You didn't have to, but I'm kinda glad you did," Fare said. "Solaire's right. It sounds pretty nice."

"Well then," Lucina said, the nervousness falling form her voice to be replaced for confidence. She looked at both Solaire and Fare, her eyes falling to their swords. She gave a small "Uh" as she looked at the Furysword at Fare's side, before taking in her longsword. "Do you use that very much?" she asked, pointing at Fare's more mundane blade.

Fare shook her head. "It's more of a back up sword."

"I see," Lucina said. "In that case, Solaire, could I see your sword for a second?" Solaire didn't even respond verbally, he simply drew his straight sword from its sheath and flipped it over, handing it hilt first to Lucina. He was smiling brightly all the way. Lucina lay it flat in her hands and studied it closely.

Curiosity got the better of Fare and she also took a closer look. She had seen this sword quite a few times from a distance, but never up close. Now that she did, she saw that it was surprisingly plain. It was well maintained and shone brightly, but there was nothing else particularly noticeable about it, with the exception that it looked rather old. The hilt looked like it had been painted at one point, but it had long since faded away, revealing the faded metal of the hilt.

Fare felt a little disappointed. Solaire had called it his Sunlight Straight Sword and Fare had wondered what a straight sword was and how it differed from a longsword. Now that she was looking at it, she realized that it had been a regular longsword this whole time. Older than hers, and no doubt with a more interesting history, but with nothing else to it.

"We could possibly get the paint reapplied," Lucina said, looking at the hilt. "I know someone who mixes a little bit of magic in with their painting to speed up the process."

Solaire looked a little giddy at the thought. "Well, I have wanted to return it to its former state for a long time, but I never had the means." Lucina handed his sword back to him and he slid it back into his sheath. "I'd like that."

"Then we have our second stop," Lucina said. "Just a question. Does that sword have any special properties? Fare's sword seems to and I thought yours might as well." Fare could see that she wasn't the only one feeling a little underwhelmed.

Solaire chuckled. "Sadly my sword is not embrued with fire like Fare's is. It is simple steel. Although I do have something that can make it a little more unique, pine resin. A dust you sprinkle on your sword imbue it with an element. Temporarily that is."

"Really?" Lucina said, sounding interesting. "What kind of elements?"

"I personally use lightning, and I think I saw Fare use fire a few times before she got her Furysword," Solaire said. He pulled a small pouch from his side and undid the drawstring. Pulling the bag open, he showed Lucina the inside. Bright gold powder, similar to repair powder but even brighter, were inside. "Gold pine resin. You can keep this one, I have more."

Lucina took the bag, looking at it with wide eyes. "So, is there a trick to it? Or do I just sprinkle it on my sword?"

"Just sprinkle it on your sword," Solaire said kindly, "It'll do the rest." As he spoke, an idea struck Fare. Unbuckling her bottomless box, she lay it on the ground in front of her and began to rummage through it, her hands running over hilts, scrolls, bottles and what felt like a smooth rock before she found what she was looking for, a small pouch. Pulling it out, she slid it open and saw with a sliver of satisfaction dark red powder. Red pine resin

"Fare?" Lucina asked with confusion.

Feeling a little proud of herself, prouder than she knew she should, Fare got to her feet. "Lightning can be very effective against some of the beasts in Lordran, but there are others who are strong against it." She handed Lucina the red pine resin. "Fire tends to work where it doesn't, and vice versa."

Lucina took the bag uncertainly, weighing both of them in her hands. After a moment, a wry smile spread over her face. "I thought I was supposed to be the one getting things for the two of you."

"Oh right," Fare said, remembering Lucina's offer. "I guess we can go now?"

"It would be rude to keep our host waiting any longer," Solaire said playfully.

Lucina's smile grew. "Follow my lead then."

Author's Note: Did anyone else see "Fare and Solaire's support with Lucina has reached Rank C" in their head? No? Just me? Ok then, I thought so but it was worth checking.

Solaire's sword is referred to as "Sunlight Straight Sword" in game. I don't know if straight swords are an actual thing (Confidence isn't high considering a google tends to bring back Dark Souls as the most common results, with the only other ones being more eastern swords) but then I looked at the description and saw that it was identified as a longsword. Straightswords are a category but I decided to move away from that in order to make things less confusing. As such I came up with the concept that Solaire just got a little dramatic in naming his weapon. There's actually implications he did that in the game, as the sword is described as being well maintained and high quality but it's "unlikely to live up to its grandiose name."

I started to have second thoughts about putting in both Lucinas in this chapter but then decided to press on ahead. I really hope this chapter didn't confuse anyone. This chapter was mean to pull double roles. It had a fair bit of humor for some cool down from the previous chapters, all of which had at least one fight, but at the same time I wanted to make it clear how dangerous the quest into Lordran is going to be. I also thought both were a good way to get some insight into the various characters.

Also I took some liberties with Aversa relationship with the Female Robin, considering their support was basically stereotypical women fighting over a man that nearly put me to sleep, whereas the Male Robin support brought up the interesting concept of Robin being the only real family that Aversa had left. As such, I thought it'd be more interesting to explore that kind of relationship. Certainly beats, "I'M his girlfriend-I mean tactician!"

Also just a heads up. These first few chapters were a semi-exercise in me writing longer scenes than I usually do, which normally are 2000-3000 words long. It's been going pretty well in my opinion, but with two groups going into the Duke's Archives next time, I'm going to have to fall back on my old style of multiple scenes per chapter at some point. I've never gotten that many complaints about having multiple scenes per chapter, but I just wanted to let you know.


	6. Crystals

Chapter 6

Crystals

Lucina couldn't help but smile as Fare gawked at her gift. A long flowing gown, sewn from silk and colored a dark red. She had been tempted to ask for a ruby brooch but upon seeing Fare reacting to the quality of the gown the way it was, she had decided against it. Even as they walked back towards the palace she was staring dumbly at it. She had a good feeling that Fare had never owned clothes that were this expensive in her entire life. "You didn't need to," she whispered.

"But I wanted to," Lucina said happily. "You are my friend after all." Fare went red in the face, but smiled weakly.

"Still, these are fine gifts." Solaire was examining his sword, beaming at the hilt that was now painted a bright golden yellow. "There must be some way that we can repay you for them The pine resin we gave you will eventually be all gone."

Lucina had to fight the urge to shake her head. "I'll make a deal with the two of you. Whenever the urge strikes you to do something for me, something that I'll like, do it. But do it because you want to." She had always thought that gifts given out of obligation and duty were hollow. Gifts and favors done out of the goodness of ones heart, no matter how small, were quite welcome to her. The last thing that she wanted was for Solaire or Fare to think that they owed her something.

"Thank you," Fare said, looking at the dress. "It. It's beautiful. I hope I get to wear it someday."

"Father and mother have quite the fondness for celebratory banquets," Lucina said. "Defeating the Abyss and you assuming the position of Lord Gwyn would certainly be a reason to celebrate. It'd be a perfect moment."

Fare went even redder. "I'm looking forward to it," and despite her embarrassment she was smiling. They passed through the archway leading into the castle courtyard. The group that was bound to leave for Lordran was gathered in the middle, around the Bonfire. Lucina took it in. The bodies had all been cleared away, human and serpent alike. Someone who didn't know about what had happened here wouldn't be able to guess that dozens of lives had been lost here.

Memories flew to the forefront of Lucina's mind, memories from another lifetime. Pale and sickly soldiers marching across the courtyard, the gate meant to hold them back shattered. The garrison slowly being whittled away as they attempted to hold the line. Her eyes darting desperately back and forth as she tried to find her friends, trying to make sure that they were still alive.

She shook her head. Those times were all behind her. She and her friends had stopped that reality from coming about. She wasn't a stranger in this land anymore, she had lived in it for five years, and it had been her home for three of them. She glanced at Fare. Fare was in the same spot she herself had been five years ago. Relying on people that she just barely knew. She understood how terrifying that could be.

Drawing closer to her, she whispered, "Nervous?"

"A bit," Fare said honestly. "But if I can be perfectly honest I'm more worried about you than I am myself."

Lucina frowned. "You're not scared at all about going Hollow? I won't pretend to know very much about them but it sounds horrific. Being reduced to a shell of what you used to be. If I can help you avoid that then I'm more than willing to put my life on the line. Even if we weren't fighting for the sake of the world."

Fare swallowed. "Thank you. But to be honest I just try to not think about it. I feel like stopping to think about becoming Hollow, in any significant depth, would be…would be," Fare trailed off, looking helplessly at Lucina. "Please. I don't want to talk about it."

Lucina felt guilt flood her stomach. Of course this would be a sore spot for Fare. She would feel the same way if someone had been asking her about the dark future she had come from when it could very possibly still happen. "I'm sorry," she said. "Just let me know if you ever need anything from me. When I first came back from the future, I was separated from my friends and couldn't' reveal who I was to my family." She thought back on those times. Those two long years before she had seen a friendly face. Two years of sleeping and waking in the woods, completely alone. "I know what it feels like to be alone. It feels horrible. You're not alone."

Fare gave her a weak smile. "I know. Ever since I got here, I never doubted that." They had reached the group in the middle of the courtyard.

"You all ready?" Chrom asked as they merged with the group. "We can head out any second if you are."

"One second," Lucina said. Gently taking Fare's dress out of her arms, she placed it in the hand of a nearby soldier. The soldier blinked and looked down at it in surprise. "Could you please put this in my room?" she said. "I'm sorry to bring this up out of nowhere but it would get destroyed if we brought it along with us." Still looking confused, the soldier nodded. "All right, ready to go."

"All right," Robin said, looking around with analytical eyes. "Fare, you'll be riding with Cordelia, Oscar with Sumia and Lucina you'll be with your aunt."

"Oh really?" Aversa said, a mock hurt town in her voice. "Oscy Wosky is such good company." There was a rattling noise and Lucina noticed that Oscar was glaring at Aversa, his sword and shield shaking in his hands.

"And this is exactly why he's going with Sumia instead," Robin said dryly. "Lucina, make sure your aunt behaves herself." Lucina fought back the urge to sigh. Aversa was reliable when things were serious and lives were at stake, but she was very good at getting under someone's skin when she found it amusing. Sadly she often found it amusing.

"Riding, what are we riding?" Fare asked. Lucina pointed. Three pegasus were grazing near the bonfire, Cordelia and Sumia's were pure white while Aversa's was pitch black. "Horses? How are horses supposed to get us onto a castle's roof?" Fare asked, sounding confused. Hearing her, Aversa gave a sly smile. Reaching around the back of her pegasus, she gave it a gentle stroke. The pegasus stretched, unfurling its wings as it did.

Fare's eyes went wide. "You have horses with wings?" she whispered.

"You don't?" Lucina asked. Surely horses with wings weren't that out of the ordinary. Certainly it was a special kind of feeling to ride one but the existence of one wasn't anymore extra ordinary than a dog or a cow.

"There are certain things that fly and certain things that don't fly," Fare said with disbelief. "Insects fly, birds fly, dragons fly, but horses do not fly. How does something like this even exist?"

"Oh, Midnight," Aversa said, faking sounding hurt. "The Chosen Undead has decreed that you shouldn't exist. We must appease her by warping you out of reality." She gave a melodramatic fake cry, burying her face in the pegasus' side. "I know we've been together for so long, but it must end."

"Ok that's enough," Robin said impatiently. "Everyone who can travel through the Bonfire, we need you at the front. Everyone else, you need to touch them. Riders, mount up and reach down." Lucina made her way through the crowd to the Bonfire, kneeling down and reaching her hand out. At that second, she realized that she had only ever been to Firelink Shrine in Lordran. She had never been to Anor Londo before, which meant she couldn't travel there on her own.

"Just put your hand on me." Lucina glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Solaire giving her a reassuring look. Grinning appreciatively, she pressed her hand against his side. She felt a couple of other hands on her back, saw just as many touch Solaire, and saw Fare kneel down on her other side, her helmet now fastened over her head. "Now!" Robin said.

Lucina saw Solaire and Fare both lean forward and felt a warm sensation wrap over her like a blanket. It passed just as soon as it had come, and she found herself in a wide chamber, with a bright golden floor, ceiling and walls. "What in Gwyn's name!" As she got to her feet, she saw a woman in bronze colored armor pushed herself off against a wall. She drew a sword with her right hand and a dagger with her left. "Who are you? How did you all get here?" It just occurred to Lucina how shocking it must be to see such a dozen people with three beasts of burden appear out of nowhere. Even in Lordran where teleportation like this was possible. Judging by what Fare had, said groups this large were simply unheard of.

"They're, friends, FRIENDS!" Fare said hastily, scrambling to her feet and holding up her hands.

"You?" The woman said, lowering her weapons. "I thought you were going to meet the Princess of Sunlight. What happened?"

"It is a long story, a very long story," Fare said. "But these people are all friends and allies as well. They're here to help Solaire and I, we are marching on the Duke's Archives to-"

"Ah," the woman said. "I see. The Princess of Sunlight accepted you. You truly are the Chosen Undead, and you plan to take Seath's Lord Soul back."

"Yes," Fare said, sounding a little relieved. "The Archives aren't that far from here. Is there anything that you know about them that could be of use to us?"

"Not a great deal," the woman admitted. "The way has been sealed for as long as I can remember. That only recently changed. I have heard people whisper about what Seath has done, locked away in his fortress. Experiments of all kinds, brutal and savage, all of them to try and create the scales of the Eternal Dragons. The one thing that he was born without and he desires above all. His search for immortality has driven him into madness. Normally I would warn you against even approaching it. But you are the Chosen Undead, and you have a band of allies. If anyone is suited to storming the Archives, it is you."

She turned to face the rest of the group. "I recognize the armor on some of you, but not on others. It matters not. An ally of the Chosen Undead is an ally of mine." She bowed. "I am the Darkmoon Knightess. Servant of the Princess of Sunlight and Firekeeper of this Bonfire." Lucina had no idea what a Firekeeper was, but had a feeling that the name was, for the most part, self explanatory. Now that she thought about it, the bonfire in the room that they were in seemed to be much brighter than the one in front of her Father's castle. The one in Firelink Shrine had been just like this one, looking back.

The Darkmoon Knightess frowned, looking at Tarkus. "I didn't know you were an Undead. I couldn't see the Darksign anywhere on your body."

Tarkus tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not. What makes you think that I am? Surely non-Undead make the journey to Anor Londo as well."

The Knightess snorted softly. "Of course they do. But you have to be Undead, don't play coy with me. I saw your body in the city. Snapped neck. It looks like you fell, one of the guardians within had apparently knocked you from a great height. How do you explain walking away from that?"

A heavy silence filled the room. Lucina spotted Oscar and Fare glancing at Tarkus, their expressions hidden behind their helmets. A noise came from Tarkus that sounded suspiciously like something being swallowed. "He isn't Undead," Solaire said. "You are aware how time is convoluted in Lordran? Surely you've seen the recent Abyss storms. They've been making it even worse."

"Oh…OH!" the Knightess said. Instantly, she bowed deeply to Tarkus. "Please forgive my rudeness. I had no idea it was not my intention to offend you."

Tarkus paused before responding. A disturbingly long pause, one that left Lucina wondering exactly what he was going through. Oscar had seemed badly shaken by learned about turning Hollow, how would Tarkus react to his own death? To her surprise, he laughed. "No matter," he said. "I came here prepared to die. I made that vow before my king, my brothers and my sisters." There was something wrong about his voice. He had laughed, but it sounded forced. Strained.

"We should be going," he said. "It will most likely be quite a march to the Archives." A few heads nodded stiffly and some of them began to slowly file out of the room.

"Whatever may happen in the Archives, the Bonfire will always be here for you," the Kinghtess said. Lucina let out a small noise of recognition as she followed the others, all of them who were now heaving.

"Um, Tarkus?" Lissa had fallen into place next to Tarkus. "A few days ago you said that you were smaller than your brothers and sisters. Who were your brothers and sisters?"

Tarkus let out a chortle, and this one sounded more genuine than his last laugh. "They were knights of Berenike who were like me. Half giant."

"Half giant?" Lissa said, her mouth wide. She wasn't the only one, Fare, Chrom and Tiki were all looking at Tarkus in amazement, and Lucina couldn't help but join them. "Gods. No wonder you're so big. And they were even bigger?"

"Yes," Tarkus said. "We became half giants when we drank a special potion. The exact ingredients and preparations of the potion are a secret to all but those who make it, but the key ingredient is common knowledge. Giant's blood. A gift to my kingdom when we helped fight a war against them, long ago. The same war that brought an end to their kind. We used the last of it before we left for Lordran, I was the last to become a half giant."

He gripped the iron chalice around his throat, looking down at it. "The blood in my potion had been contaminated somehow, that or something else had affected it. I did not grow to the same size as my siblings, but I was somehow just as strong as they were." He chuckled again. "We left in a hurry, but I have a good feeling. When I return to Berenike, giant's blood still flows in my veins. It can be drawn from me, and more half giant knights can be made again. They may be my size, but they will still be true half giants."

Lucina couldn't help but stare. Tarkus' actions felt stiff, unnatural. What was more, she had no knowledge of how this potion worked but she had a feeling that the blood needed couldn't be drawn from half giants. If they could be, how did they ever run out of it in the first place? She couldn't bring herself to voice any of these concerns. The giants were all dead, and Lucina had a terrible feeling that all of the half giants would be too, the moment life left Tarkus' body.

"Um, Tarkus?" Lissa said nervously. "You keep mentioning your king. Your brothers and sisters. Could you," she hesitated. "Could you please tell me more about them?"

Tarkus stared at her silently, and Lucina could see her aunt wince under the gaze. When Tarkus spoke however, his voice was soft and held the first genuine bit of happiness Lucina had heard out of him since they had arrived. "King Bruford. It would be my pleasure."

The party had managed to make their way outside now, and Lucina blinked. The city spreading out before them was nothing short of massive. The sun shone brightly on all of it, pointed towers dotting the landscape and all of the countless buildings a dazzling shade of red, but what drew her attention most was the citadel directly in front of her. Dozens of towers, the building itself rising upward as it was supported by flying buttresses, it easily dwarfed the castle she had lived in for most of her life.

"Is that the Duke's Archives?" she asked, not directing the question at anyone in particular.

"No, that would be Gwyn's palace," Solaire said. "It was where Fare and I retrieved the Lordvessel from. Seath was respected by Gwyn, but nonetheless he was a Duke, not the ruler of Lordran. That's the Archives over there." Taping Lucina on the shoulder, Solaire pointed upward. To their left, a mountain loomed over them, albeit a rather small one. Solaire was pointing towards one of the ridges, where a castle was firmly standing. Significantly smaller than the palace in front of her, but still large enough to rival the palace back in Ylisstol.

"How are you going to get up there on foot?" Lucina asked. "Maybe we should all fly there instead."

"Oh don't worry, I spoke with your mother about this," Solaire said. "There's a tunnel and an elevator that leads up to the fortress. It should be easy to access now that the Lordvessel has been retrieved. Gwyn's builders didn't place a castle on a mountain without a way to get to it after all."

Lucina frowned. "But couldn't Seath just cut off the elevator or simply bottleneck us in the tunnel?" This fortress sounded like it would be perfect to defend.

"If he still had his wits about him, that would be a very legitimate concern," Solaire said. "But Seath's sanity has been slipping for some time. I doubt he would think that far ahead. What's more, we're a small group. He might have noticed a large army approaching his keep and cut the chain, but we can most likely slip in without him noticing until we're inside. Of course he's still a dragon, and dragons are not stupid creatures. Even an insane one can still have moments of clarity. I could be wrong, he might have smashed the elevator to pieces." He looked Lucina directly in the eye, and even though his helmet she could tell he was smiling brightly. "Of course, that's why Robin suggested a multi-pronged attack. If the assault from the bottom fails, we have the assault from the top."

"Speaking of which, we've spent enough time taking in the pretty sights," Aversa said from atop her Pegasus. "Come on Lucina, auntie doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Solaire chuckled. "Well this is where our ways part for now," he said. "I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. I'd hoped to fight alongside both you and Fare today. Please take up my stead as her ally in her absence."

"Solaire, that's the entire point of why I'm here," Lucina said.

"True, quite true," Solaire said. "But it only felt fitting to say it. Until we meet again."

"Until then," Lucina said. Approaching her aunt's horse, she hoisted herself up, just behind Aversa. To her side, she saw that Fare and Oscar had already climbed onboard the other mounts.

"If anything goes wrong with either of our approaches, we'll regroup back here by the bonfire," Robin said to the mounted warriors. "We should could reconvene back here in three hours."

"See you in three hours then big sister!" Aversa said, giving her pegasus a small nudge. On cue, it spread its wings and took off with a might flap. Lucina closed her eyes as she wrapped her hands around her aunt's waist, enjoying the feeling of wind in her face. She had never had much desire to become a pegasus knight, but she had to admit riding with one never failed to be a pleasant experience. For a good long while she sat there, enjoying the sensation of soaring through the air, before eventually the wind died down and she heard the telltale sound of hooves on stone.

Opening her eyes, she slid off of her aunt's pegasus. They had landed on the top of the Dukes Archives, on the ramparts. Particularly wide ramparts. Wide enough for a dragon. Oscar and Fare were doing the same thing not too far away, both of them shaking visibly. "First time they've ever flown," Aversa said knowingly. "You two need to sit down for a minute?"

"No!" Oscar barked sharply. "We're fine!"

Aversa giggled. "I think I wounded his sensitive little pride." Lucina ignored Aversa as she approached Fare. "We really can stop for a minute if you need to. We're not in a hurry," Aversa called again.

"I just need to catch my breath," Fare said as Lucina neared here. Her voice was shallow, and Lucina couldn't help but notice that Cordelia was gingerly rubbing her sides. Apparently Fare had a tight grip. Turning, Fare looked out at Anor Londo, which was now far below them, spraying out towards the horizon. Her chest heaved with a few deep breaths, which slowly grew smaller and smaller as her hands grew more steady. "Ok. Ok I'm fine now," she said.

"Quite a view isn't it?" Lucina asked, looking down on Anor Londo. From her limited experience, whenever you flew over a city it appeared tiny, almost minuscule, from your vantage point. That wasn't the case here. Even though they were on top of a castle built on a mountain, Anor Londo still appeared large and magnificent, even if it wasn't as large as it was before. She had a hard time believing that something this massive, this overwhelming, could be real.

"I was stunned when I first got here. I had heard the legends about it, the city of the Lords," Fare said. "I wasn't expecting it to be this big." As she spoke, her head lowered and her voice dropped to just a whisper. "I wasn't expecting it to be this empty either."

"Empty?" Lucina asked. She looked down again. There had to be thousands of buildings down there, maybe even tens of thousands. All of them were empty?

"I've been to the palace, there were only three people there capable of speaking with me," Fare said. "The knights of Gwyn's famed order still patrolled the halls, but they aren't what they used to be. Empty shells. Whether they've gone Hollow or their armor still walks even though they themselves have passed on, they're not sentient beings anymore. Life barely exists in this city anymore."

Lucina bit her lip. "I've seen dead cities before," she muttered. "But never like this." Fare looked at her in confusion. "I've seen cities that have been sacked. Burned to the ground by Grima's servants and its populace slaughtered. I've seen thriving centers of life turned to ruins. Shattered strongholds, homes burnt to the ground." She took in the shining expanse of Anor Londo. "But this?" she said. "It looks untouched."

"It is unnerving," Fare admitted. "No vicious or glorious end. Not a death to be sung about years after. Just slowly shriveling away, a shadow of what it used to be, until it's finally snuffed out. Just like the First Flame." There was a moment of silence before Fare grabbed her furysword and shield, drawing both of them. "But it's my job to stop that isn't it?" Fare sounded a little hesitant and uncertain of herself, but deep down Lucina could hear a core of determination. Both of them turned back to face the others.

"Oscar, Fare, and I in front with me in the center. Everyone else in the back," Lucina said, drawing Falchion. All of the riders nodded, Cordelia and Sumia drawing javelins from the clusters they had on their backs while Aversa drew a tome. Oscar glanced at Lucina and grumbled something under his breath, but drew his sword and shield nonetheless.

There was a doorway not far from them. Fare stood firmly on Lucina's right, Oscar on her left, and she could hear the riders forming a line behind her. "Let's take it slow, let anything in there come to us, only charge it if we wouldn't be able to hold this line."

"Good plan," Fare said. Smiling slightly, Lucina took a step forward and gently pushed the door opened, sword at the ready. There was nothing on the other side, at least not the immediate other side. Slowly, the six of them moved in.

The inside of the castle was a rather drab affair, almost plain. Every wall was a dull gray stone, with the only break from this monotony being the blue floor far below. They were on a dark brown wooden walkway, several stories above the ground. The wall to their right, on the other hand, wasn't a wall at all. It was a bookcase. Thousands of volumes were staring Lucina, ranging from thin enough to slide between a crack, to large enough to use as a shield. Looking over the edge, Lucina realized that this wall wasn't an exception. Dozens of towering bookshelves were placed in the middle of the floor, but the walls all around the ground floor had been converted into bookshelves.

"I know that it's called the Duke's Archives," she whispered, "but this is unbelievable." Pulling her head back, she saw that Sumia had pulled a volume off of the shelf and was flicking through the pages. Her face screwed up in concentration as she read. "I don't get this," she said softly, sounding slightly ashamed. "It's all complex formulas and incantations."

Cordelia pulled a book off at random herself, flicking it open. "This isn't anything like that," she said. "This is a children's book. A story about a boy who had a dragon because he wished for it." She snapped it shut. "The Knightess said that Seath was mad, but if he's been reduced to collecting magical formulas and fairy tales in equal measure, then he's more than just mad. He's desperate."

"It could've just been here before that," Sumia said hopefully. "This place could've been a library before Seath came here. Maybe the Lords just wanted to gather knowledge of all kinds, and put them someplace everyone could find it."

"Maybe," Fare said slowly. "Seath can't have always have been mad. And half of these bookshelves he couldn't reach himself without tearing the walkway apart." She didn't sound certain, but at the same time she didn't seem able to come with a suitable counter argument.

Sumia slid her book back onto the shelf. "Think about it," Sumia said. "People milling about this place, seeing books they might not have even known existed before. Learning about places that they've never been to." She ran a finger across the spines of the books on the shelf in front of her. "It's a shame," she said sadly. "No one's around to read any of them anymore."

"Seath is," Cordelia said. "And that makes it even more pitiful. He-INCOMING!" With a single fluid movement, Cordelia tossed the javelin that she had been holding. It soared over the heads of those in front and found its mark. It buried itself in the chest of a Hollow that had been slowly dragging itself across the walkway, heading towards them. It stopped, making a wet gurgling noise as the javelin pierced it, before continuing to walk forward. As it did, Lucina realized that easily a dozen others were right behind it.

Lucina tightened her grip on Falchion. These Hollow weren't like the ones that she had fought earlier. Growths of what seemed to be bright clue crystal were jutting out all over them. Most of them were small, no longer than her fingers, but some sprouting out of their shoulders and knees seemed to rival their heads in size. A handful had mismatched pieces of armor, with the crystals growing out of them as well. Most carried shields, but in place of a sword or a spear they carried more chunks of crystal. Even their skin was the same bright shade of blue as the crystal, as opposed to the red raw skin she had seen before. One thing remained from the other Hollows though. The eyes, still glowing like dying embers.

The one Cordelia had wounded lunged forward, swinging its crystal at Fare. Her shield took the blow, but Lucina heard Fare grunt with the effort of keeping it up. Bringing Falchion to bear, she swung it at the already wounded Hollow. It tore through its side, finishing what Cordelia had started and causing it to collapse in a heap. "What happened to these Hollows?" Lucina blurted out, as the rest of the horde advanced on them.

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like them before," Fare blurted out as two more javelins flew overhead. One nearly missed the Hollow it had been aiming at, but still managed to embed itself just below the left armpit. The second one pierced its throat, causing it to fall and not rise again. By that point, the majority of them had reached them. Lucina ducked down as the one nearest to her swung, barely avoiding the blow before thrusting Falchion forward into the Hollow's unarmored stomach. Withdrawing her sword, she swung again, this time horizontally, taking off one of the Hollow's legs. It gurgled weakly as it fell, but didn't seem to be moving.

She could hear loud clanging on both sides of her and knew that Oscar and Fare were clashing with the Hollows as well. Another pair of javelins claimed a third hollow and a rush of dark energy shot past her, hitting a Hollow and blasting it over the railing's edge. She barely had any time to focus on this though, as another Hollow stepped forward to replace the one that she had just slain.

It had a sword was so heavily encased in crystal that it was more of a club than it was a sword, but never the less it swung it at Lucina. It clanged off of Falchion, cracks spiderwebbing along the crystal. Lucina grit her teeth as it did, much more force than expected had been put behind the blow. It had almost knocked her off of her feet. The Hollow recoiled from the failed blow and Lucina, not wanting to waste time whittling it down with multiple blows, swung for the head. Even with the crystals growing out of it, one swing from Falchion was more than enough to tear through the Hollow's neck.

There was a whistle in the air and Lucina realized with a pang of panic that one of the Hollows was sticking to the rear of the mob, a bow in his hand. Putting together what had just happened, she made a move to leap to the side. She had barely moved when the arrow soared through the air, tearing a gash in her cheek as it grazed her. "Naughty boy!" Aversa shouted, and another spell soared through the air, snapping the Hollow's body back at an odd angle.

"Thank you!" Lucina shouted without thinking about it. One more Hollow advanced on her, clumsily bringing its club up from down below. Lucina hacked downward, Falchion biting into the crystal coated figure's wrist. The club fell to its side as Lucina heaved her sword up over her head and brought it down hard. It tore through the gap between shoulder and neck. There was a moment of hesitation before Lucina realized that the Hollow was dead and her grip on Falchion was the only thing keeping it upright. A quick yank proved this point, as it fell to the ground the second the blade was free.

The fight was over. Oscar was thrusting his sword into a prone Hollow and Fare was stamping out a burning corpse, but none of the Hollows were moving. "These things, Hollows right?" Cordelia said, walking forward and beginning to pull her javelins out of the corpses, Sumia following her lead. "Are they always this tough? I never met many things that could survive a spear I put through their chest."

"No, they tend to be a weaker than that," Fare said, stamping out the last of the flames that she had made, ensuring that the wooden walkway beneath them didn't begin to burn. "A Hollow that just turned can fight with all of the skill it had when it was still human, but after that their skills degrade. They get weaker, slower, less durable the more they die. They're a threat because of their high number and the fact they can never truly die. In a one on one battle, a Hollow that has degraded will always lose against a warrior with any skill."

"Which begs the question of what happened to these things," Cordelia said. Kneeling down near a dead hollow, she gave one of the crystal growths an experimental tap with the base of her spear. Nothing happened. Gripping the spear with both ends, she brought the spear down much harder. The growth visibly cracked. "Huh," Cordelia said. "Not very durable. If I can break it with the blunt end of a spear must be pretty brittle."

"But these Hollows are still much stronger than the ones that we fought back in Ylisse," Lucina said. "Just now, one of them nearly broke its club with one swing." She frowned. She wasn't sure what she had expected from the inside of Seath's castle. She had had half formed images of hunched over dragonspawn and vicious chimeras of various animals that Seath had created in her head. She hasn't been expecting this.

"Seath did this?" Sumia said, looking at the same body that Cordelia was leaning next to. "But the Knightess said that he was trying to recreate stone scales. Why would he make something that's so easy to break?" She looked directly at him. "And why would he do something like this to someone? This is horrible. And…well." Her face turned red as she, clearly embarrassed, said, "why would you do something like this with something that's so pretty?" Lucina wasn't sure that she would call the crystals pretty. If she had seen them in a different context, other than growing out of a human body, she might have agreed with Sumia. As it stood, the bright blue crystals looked almost sickly while still rooted in the limbs and torso of the Hollows.

"Sumia dear, your romanticism aside, you do raise a bit of a good point, though not for the reasons you think," Aversa said. "Seath is supposed to be insane, but insane and stupid aren't the same thing. They have overlap at points, but they're not guaranteed to mix. He wouldn't create something like this unless he had a use for them." Lucina frowned. Her aunt raised a good point. Unless Seath had created these crystals by pure accident, he would've created them for a reason. Whether it was for a logical reason or an insane reason, he would have had one.

"We don't have any definite proof that it was Seath that did this," Oscar said, "but on the other hand it is something he would do. And there's no one else in the Archives that could have done this."

"But why?" Fare asked. "He wants the stone scales the rest of his kind had. How do these crystals connect to that?"

"They could be a stepping stone," Aversa suggested. "Those stone scales everyone keeps bringing up aren't just normal stone. Maybe their insides looked something like this." She picked up one of the clubs the Hollows had been using and idly dropped it over the edge of the walkway they were on. It fell three stories before shattering on the ground below, pieces scattering everywhere. "That's just a guess though, if these are supposed to be the cores of the scales that give dragons eternal life, they're not very impressive."

"We should keep moving," Lucina said. If there were Hollows in the Archives she had a feeling that this group wasn't the extent of their numbers. No doubt there would be hundreds of more lurking about. "Before we get swarmed by more Hollows. If we get bogged down fighting them we'll be wasting energy and wearing ourselves down fighting an enemy that will just keep coming back. Our best bet is to find Seath as quickly as possible."

Everyone nodded, Fare rather enthusiastically, but Aversa took a step forward. "Just a moment, there's something important that needs to be taken care of." Lucina was about to ask what, when all of a sudden one of her hands firmly but gently gripped the side of her head. The other hand uncorked a bottle that was hanging from Aversa's waist, a bottle of healing elixir. "We're not going anywhere with your face like that," she said, gently applying the elixir to the gash on Lucina's face. There was a light tickling sensation and Lucina felt the wound close. Leaning in, Aversa gave a gentle, motherly peck on the cheek. "There you go, boo-boo kissed away."

Lucina felt her face heating up. She was really doing this? In the keep of an insane dragon? Though frankly at this point Lucina was just glad that no one was laughing. "There's a fork up ahead," Cordelia called. She was a little way ahead. As the rest of the group moved forward, they saw that she was right. To the left, a staircase stretched across the opening below, leading to the floor below on the other side. To their right, a staircase that spiraled upward into a tower. "Which way?" Cordelia asked.

"We should probably check the tower," Fare said. "It'll be a dead end, whereas the stairs down would take us into the main castle. Best that we make sure there's nothing that could point us in the right direction first." Lucina nodded. It made sense. It was their mission to check the upper sections of the Archives, it was the other team's job to check the lower ones. Even if they eventually found nothing and had to move down, they had to be sure first.

The stairways were narrow, narrow enough so that only two people could stand side by side as they climbed. "Oscar and I should go first," Fare said.

"Thank you for your kind words Chosen Undead," Oscar said, bowing thankfully. The two of them raised their shields in unison and slowly began to ascend the stairs. Lucina followed, Cordelia right beside her, while Sumia and Aversa brought up the rear. As they slowly ascended, the grim grey rock of the walls began to give way to something Lucina had not been expecting. The same bright blue crystal that had been growing out of the Hollows.

It was splattered along the walls in isolated patches, but the further they went the more concentrated it became. By the time the stairs had leveled out, the floor was coated with pockets of the crystal as well. Lucina looked at it wearily. She wasn't sure what this crystal was, but it was almost starting to look alive at this point. "More of it?" Oscar said with exasperation, bashing a layer of crystal on the wall with his shield, shredding a sizable piece off. "I'm starting to think Seath might just like the way it looks."

Lucina noticed that there was another door not far from them, a large, rather rusty double hinged door. "Only one way forward," she said. Taking one last look of the room and confirming that it was devoid of anything interesting with the exception of the crystal, she began to push against the door. It creaked and moved slowly , Lucina straining against the heavy door until she felt someone else pushing against it as well, speeding up the process. She allowed herself a small smile as the two of them gave one last mighty heave and flung the door open. The smile promptly vanished as her mouth slid open in shock and terror.

There was not a single inch of the room inside that was not coated with the crystal. It didn't even appear to be inside a castle anymore, it looked like a cave that had been formed out of the material. Lucina barely noticed his, as the object of her shock was at the far end of the room. A massive creature that had turned its head in their direction.

Lucina didn't need anyone to tell her that this was Seath the Scaleless. He had the head, torso and talons of the dragons Lucina knew, but that was where the similarities ended. His skin was a piercing , almost blinding, white, and his wings a dazzling shade of violet. Instead of two wings, he had a grand total of six, spread out down his back in pairs. While he was puny compared to Grima, he still towered over her and the others, his head almost scrapping the ceiling. Despite all of this, what truly drew Lucina's attention was where his torso ended. Seath had no hind limbs, as his torso gave way to a deformed ball of the crystal that she had seen all throughout the Archives, random and disjointed, with shards of inconsistent sizes sticking in random directions. Stretching out of it were a trio of what Lucina assumed were supposed to be tails, all of them lying behind his back.

Seath spoke. His voice was not what Lucina had expected from someone of his size. She had expected something deep and booming, but instead it was soft and raspy. "Intruders," he hissed. "Come to steal the secrets that I have uncovered. You never should have entered my palace." Seath's jaw opened wide and he inhaled deeply.

"SCATTER!" Lucina roared, realizing what Seath was about to do. The six of them ran, Lucina Fare and Cordelia dodging to the right while Sumia, Aversa and Oscar ran to the left, all of them out of the direct path between Seath and the entrance. Seath lowered his head and exhaled, an eery white mist spraying out of his mouth and engulfing where they had been mere moments before. Lucina had no idea what that mist was supposed to do and was in no hurry to find out.

"It doesn't look like he'll be able to move around very much like that," Cordelia hissed, hastily gesturing to Seath's deformed lower torso. "We should be able to dance around him and slowly chip away at him." Lucina, Fare and Cordelia neared Seath, whose attention had been diverted to the others, one of his tails in front of them. Pulling back Falchion, Lucina swung downward, slicing into the tail with the holy sword, the momentum of the blow carrying it forward until it was halfway through the tail. She ripped it out and prepared to swing again, but before she could of so, something happened. Before her eyes, the wound sealed shut nearly instantaneously. Lucina gaped at it. She had been one blow away from severing Seath's tail off, and in half of a second all of the damage had just vanished like that?

Turning her head, she saw Cordelia stab down and Fare slash at the tail, only to earn similar results. No sooner had their weapons cleared the tail, than the wounds healed within half a second. No trace of the damage done was left. There was a cold and cruel laugh, one that erupted from Seath. "You thought I could be slain?" he said cruelly. "I cannot be. Your weapons cause me discomfort. Nothing more. What arrogance led you to believe that you could challenge me?"

"Do you have any idea who you're facing?" Oscar shouted incredulously. He, Sumia and Aversa were advancing on Seath from the other side. "Has your mind decayed that much? The Chosen Undead has come to reclaim the soul that Gwyn gave you! Your time has come to an end dragon! You will not live past this-" Oscar was never able to finish his sentence. Seath's crystal torso jerked and one of his three tails swung, heading straight at Oscar.

Wordlessly, Oscar shoved Sumia in the back, forcing her to the ground. Mere seconds later the tail swung directly over her head. Aversa was able to leap over the tail, just barely clearing it, but Oscar had not been so lucky. He had yet to recover from pushing Sumia and had no time to either jump or duck. The tail hit him squarely in the chest, a horrible crack filling the air, before he was flung back against the wall with a thud.

"Oscar!" Fare shouted, fear in her voice. "Aversa he needs healing!" Lucina knew that Oscar was supposed to have an Estus Flask that he could heal himself with, but Fare apparently had either forgotten that or was concerned that Oscar was in no condition to reach for it. Aversa was already moving towards Oscar, but before she was even halfway there Seath's claw had darted out, grabbing the knight.

Lifting Oscar up to directly in front of his face, Seath blankly stared at Oscar. His eyes didn't seemed focused on his hand, almost as if he was staring at something beyond it. Seath waited for a second, Oscar moaning weakly in his grip, before Seath's grip clamped down. There was a sickening wet crunch, a single cry of pain from Oscar, and his body went limp.

"So. The Chosen Undead," Seath said, letting Oscar's broken body fall form his hands. Oscar's body was bent at an odd angle and his limbs were sticking in odd directions. It broke apart into ashes before it hit the ground, slowly drifting away. "I've heard the stories from those foolish enough to try and penetrate my keep. A champion of Gwyn's, one who will take his place?" He let out a bark of laughter.

"That pitiful old man never would've never defeated my kin if I hadn't told him how to do it," he continued. "Now he thinks he can kill me? And with a mere human? Even if he came here himself he could not do it, and his pathetic little champion will not be able to, especially if he can be so easily felled by a swipe of my tail. Of course an Undead will always come back, but it doesn't matter. Whether Gwyn himself comes, or that whelp of a champion I just killed, I've known that Gwyn would seek my death one day. I've taken measures to prevent that."

"And what would that be?" Lucina asked. Seath seemed to be incredibly prideful. If she could get him boasting maybe she could figure out a way to hurt him.

As she spoke, she realized that Fare was shaking. At first she thought it was fear, but then she heard her whispering, "You sadistic monster," and realized that it wasn't fear. It was rage. The others weren't taking any steps to attack Seath. While the shock of Oscar's death and Seath's boasting was a good part of it, Lucina had a good feeling that the main reason was how Seath seemed to be able to heal all of his wounds.

Seath let out another bark of laughter. "I've kept the secret to my life secret for thousands of years. Know this. It is an effective substitute for the stone scales I was never born with. That is all you will ever know." Stone scales. Lucina's mind raced back to when Fare had told Tiki about the Lords and their war with the dragons. With a feeling of dread, she realized that Fare had said that the Lords had killed all of the dragons, but never how. Even if she could remember, she had a bad feeling that Seath was smart enough to make it so that the same method wouldn't work. After all, the technique that killed the dragons would've been the first thing Gwyn would've tried.

Her line of thought was interrupted as Seath moved again. His other claw shot out, heading straight for Lucina. Heart thumping so hard that she thought it was burst out of her chest, Lucina attempted to throw herself back. She never knew if she had acted early enough to avoid the attack, because Fare was suddenly in front of her. Her shield raised high with one hand, and a strange glowing ball of light in the other, her sword having been sheathed. She slammed the ball into her chest, causing a pale blue mist to emanate from her body just as the claw hit.

Fare's shield was jammed into the "palm" of Seath's claw, keeping it from closing all of the way around her. Despite that, the pointed ends of Seath's talons were digging into her on all sides, one in her shoulder, two in her sides and one in her leg. Lucina could hear Fare grunting in pain and see blood oozing out of the wounds, but the talons didn't seem to be buried that deeply in Fare. It was then that she remembered something Fare had once told her, a type of pyromancy. "Iron Flesh. The ability to harden one's skin against attacks." If what she had said was true, Fare would be much more durable, but at the cost at being barely able to move.

"Lucina," Fare croaked, her voice heavy with the strain her body was no doubt under. "We need to run. We can't hurt him. We need to find the others and see if they can-" there was a jolt from Seath's talons and they forced themselves another inch in, forcing a hiss of pain out of Fare. Darting out from behind Fare, Lucina swung Falchion upwards, cutting through Seath's wrist. Seath didn't show any signs of pain but his claw still recoiled, talons withdrawing from Fare's body. As her sword reached the top of its arc, Lucina brought it down on one of the individual talons, severing it.

Lucina felt a brief spark of hope, thinking that she had found a way around Seath's ability to heal. The spark was immutably snuffed out. Sinew and arteries shot out from the rest of the claw, anchoring itself to the severed talon and reattaching it. Lucina had not so much as blinked and it was as if her sword had never touched Seath.

"I can imagine how frustrating this must be," Seath said tauntingly. Staggering back, blood still seeping from her wounds, Fare concentrated a ball of fire in her hand, tossing it at Seath's face. A javelin from Cordelia was tossed at the same time. Both found their mark. The fireball fell slightly short but still managed to hit the center of his throat, while Cordelia's javelin found its mark in Seath's right eye. The flesh on Seath's throat was scorched from the flame and Seath's eye burst open, but it had no effect. The blackened flesh was almost instantly replaced with pure white, and the javelin was pushed out of his eye, which had fully regrown. "To have come so far and be unable to leave a mark on me."

As if to emphasize his point, a torrent of dark energy from Aversa and a javelin from Sumia impacted on his upper jaw. The spell was so powerful that enough of Seath's face was ripped asunder to expose his skull, which was not white but had taken on the blue texture of the crystals. The skin replaced itself and the spear was forced out of where it had lodged itself in bone.

"Luina," Fare rasped, still in pain. "We need to-" Lucina silenced her with a simple nod. She was right. They couldn't beat Seath right now. "AVERSA! SUMIA!" Fare shouted. "RUN!" Lucina turned and began to run, as did all of the others. Seath's head twisted. Not in the direction of Aversa and Sumia, but of Fare. Not at the group Fare was a part of, specifically at Fare. His jaw opened wide, inhaling. He was going to use his breath to attack again. Fare made to move, but she put weight on her wounded leg, which promptly gave out under her weight, causing her to fall to one knee. Lucina ground to a stop and turned, about to head back, but she was too late.

Seath lowered his head and exhaled, a flurry of white mist spewing out of his gaping maw just as Fare had gotten to her feet. Her body twisted and writhed in obvious pain, but she made no noises. Lucina almost wished that she was screaming in agony. The utter silence coming from Fare felt fundamentally wrong. Like the mist had done something unspeakable to her.

As it cleared away, Fare was still standing, but there was something unnatural about her body. It was as stiff as a statute, it seemed to shine unnaturally and there were no signs of Fare breathing. Slowly, Fare attempted to take a step forward, but instead of lifting her foot up she instead dragged it across the ground. There was a grinding noise as she did so, sounding not at all like metal on the crystal, but instead like crystal on crystal. One of her arms stretched out, reaching for Lucina, a high pitched whine coming from her. As she attempted to mover her other leg, she overbalanced and fell forward.

Fare's body shattered as it hit the ground. Time seemed to slow down and Lucina could see her arm splinter as it the ground before the rest of her. It was as if Fare was made of glass, that was how easily her body came apart. Thousands of pieces, all of them taking on the texture of the crystal that filled the room, scattered over the floor. "

Another one of Gwyn's servant's falls," Seath said. "Of course that one might've been an Undead too. No matter. I've known that I might to cope with an Undead." His gums curled up and his teeth were bared. Lucina had a distinct feeling that this is what a dragon's smile looked like. "If anymore of you are Undead, I have a promise for you. If you die in my castle, you will never leave it. You'll be trapped here for the rest of your eternal cursed life." He bared his teeth even more.

Lucina tightened her grip on Falchion, fighting back the urge to shake. She wasn't sure if Seath was bluffing or not. Had he done something to the castle? Would Oscar and Fare not be able to resurrect themselves properly. Her mind drifted into dark places. Oscar and Fare, trapped in some nightmarish torture of Seath's, in agony, unable to escape. One way or another she had to get the others out of here now. They couldn't hurt Seath, none of them were Undead, and Fare and Oscar might need to be rescued.

Even as she thought of this, she couldn't help but feel sick. To see Oscar crushed like that and Fare killed in such a cruel way. Part of her wanted to make sure Seath could never hurt anyone like that again, even though she knew that was a futile thought. She had to focus on getting away. Looking around, she saw the remaining three of the group silently gapping at the shattered remains of Fare, which were slowly turning to ash. She had to shake them out of it, to order them to run.

Glancing back at Seath, Lucina was about to give the command when her heart almost stopped. Seath was staring directly at her, his pale dead eyes gazing into hers. What felt like a full minute passed as they looked at each other. Then Seath spoke, but not what she had been expecting. "Where are you?" he hissed. "It can't have just been two. Where are you hiding?" He paused. "Did I get the rest of them with my breath?"

Lucina's mind whirled, trying to make sense of this. How could Seath not know where she was? She was right in front of him. And then it hit her. When he had been holding Oscar he had been looking past him, his eyes had not been focused directly on the night. ' _Seath is blind!_ ' Lucina thought to herself. He had to rely on his other senses. But how could she take advantage of that? Could she convey instructions to sneak out of the chamber without making any noise?

While she was thinking, Seath suddenly went stiff. His neck canned upward, staring without seeing at the ceiling. "What's this?" he said. "This is…no. No. NO!" Without warning, Seath's wings spread wide. "GET AWAY FROM IT!" With a mighty flap, he propelled himself into the air. The mighty mass of his body smashed into the ceiling, shattering it and creating a hole that he flew through, out of the castle and towards the outside sky.

Lucina tore herself from where she was standing, running all out towards the door as chunks of crystal began to rain down. Somehow, she found herself outside of Seath's chambers, Aversa Cordelia and Sumia with her. "What was he talking about?" Sumia panted, looking terrified. "What did he do to Oscar? And Fare…oh Naga." In her mind's eye, Lucina saw Fare shattering on the ground again. She didn't blame Sumia for being so overwhelmed.

Aversa looked shaken too, but when she spoke her voice only wavered slightly. "Lucina, what now?" she asked. "I've got a bad feeling that Seath is heading after Chrom and Robin's group. And there's no reason why they'd handle it any better than us."

Panic hit Lucina as Aversa spoke. Of course Seath could be going after the other group. She spoke quickly. "They should still be on the bottom floor. Seath is most likely going to enter from the outside to avoid doing too much damage to the castle. We need to start making our way down there, find them and get out of here."

"What about Fare and Oscar?" Cordelia asked. Sumia's eyes sparkled and Lucina knew that she was fighting back tears.

"Seath might've been lying," she said. She hoped with all of her heart that he had been. "To make them lose hope and go Hollow. But we'll be keeping an eye on them and rescuing them if we get the chance. If we can't, we WILL come back for them later. We need to move though, now!" Without another word, she began to dash down the stairs they had climbed mere minutes ago, taking them two steps at a time. While she did, she silently prayed. For Solaire, for Fare, for Oscar, for her parents, her aunts, for everyone. She desperately prayed for their safety.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Sumia is supposed to be a bit of a klutz but things would get boring if she was tripping over her own feet every three seconds. Not to mention I've made it clear that I'm fine with humor in this story, but even I think non-stop slapstick in a fic that includes Dark Souls wouldn't work. So I decided to focus more on her innocence, romanticism, slight naiveté, and good nature. I'll see if I include any of her self esteem issues, but I'm leaning towards her having gotten over those. Frankly they seem a little redundant considering that Fare has something like that going on, along with other factors, so I don't see the need to have two characters with similar arcs.

As for Tarkus, there's nothing solid about him being half giant but it was the best explanation I could come up with for why the knights of Berenike were so freaking big when they weren't Lords. I could've sworn I read that as an official explanation somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it anywhere now. And the tainted blood was the best reason I could come up with as for why he was so small by comparison. And for Dark Souls fans wondering, yes the war Tarkus referenced was the invasion of Drangleic. I've yet to actually beat Dark Souls 2 and I know there's some controversy about the changes it made to the lore so I decided to keep any references to it vague. When Dark Souls 3 comes out I'll probably do the same thing.

As for why Seath can talk, well, from what I gathered the Eternal Dragons were supposed to be intelligent and honestly I thought he'd just be more interesting if he was more than just "Big thing that needs to die." As for why he's blind, it turns out that he really is blind in game. It can actually be exploited in his boss fight, if you use a spell to make your movements quiet, he can't pinpoint you properly until you attack him.

Also I know it's technically a foot, not a claw, but claw sounds better.


	7. False Gold

Chapter 7

False Gold

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Robin glanced around. So far her team had not run into much trouble so far. There had been a boar that seemed to have been made out of pure metal, but it had run headlong into Tarkus and Tiki. The pair had quickly dispatched the beast and they had advanced to the elevator, which thankfully had not been sabotaged. Once they were up and into the Archives themselves, they had faced very little in the way of opposition, only the occasional Hollow with odd crystal growths. However, as they had made their way through the various rooms of the archives, that had slowly changed.

They had entered a wide open room filled with bookshelves, but that wasn't all that it was filled with. Hollows, more of the ones that had crystal protruding out of them, were creeping out from between the bookshelves, clubs in hand. What truly grabbed Robin's attention though, was the much larger figure that was shoving its way past the Hollows.

It was a golem, a head larger than Tarkus, that was made purely out of the crystal that was growing out of the Hollows, except that it wasn't blue. It was bright gold. Lacking a face, merely having a flat surface where a face would be, or hands, its arms ending in stumps, it looked like it had been carved by someone who had never seen a human before. A particularly large chunk of crystal was sticking out of its back, well over its head, and unless Robin was mistaken, it was stained with blood.

Holding her tome out, she sent a blast of lightning directly at the golem. It impacted directly on its chest, flashing brightly, but as it cleared the golem was unharmed. "Magic doesn't work," she said, tightening her grip on the sword in her right hand. "Tarkus! Tiki!" That proved to be an unnecessary command to give. The two of them were at the front of their band and were already taking action.

The golem had broken into a run, breaking free from the mob of the Hollows and bearing down on Tarkus, who had raised his shield in preparation. The golem raised both of its incomplete arms over its head and brought them crashing down on Tarkus, hitting the shield. There was a groan from Tarkus, and he was visibly pushed back a few inches, but he kept his shield up. The golem raised its arms for another strike, but before it could perform one, a tail came swinging up and struck it in what passed for a face.

Tiki, in her dragon form, spun around where she was hovering just above the ground and opened her jaw wide. A ball of green fire shot out and slammed into the golem's chest. It didn't do any visible damage but it did knock the golem off balance, giving Tarkus an opening. Lunging forward, he brought his massive greatsword down, directly onto the golem's neck. Two loud noises filled the room. The louder was the clang of metal on crystal, which nearly swallowed up the softer one. A hard to hear but unmistakable crack.

Thin white cracks were spiderwebbing out from where Tarkus' sword had landed. Robin gave a small grin. The golem seemed to realize what Tarkus had just done and lunged forward, wrapping its handless arms around Tarkus. Pivoting on the spot, the golem threw Tarkus against a bookcase to the side. There was a loud smash, accompanied by the splintering of wood, as Tarkus crashed into the bookcase, books knocked loose and cascading down around him. Grunting in pain, he got to his feet, using his sword for support. The golem advanced on him and he readied his weapon. The golem was halfway there when another ball of green fire struck it in the back, once again knocking it off balance. Tiki was flanking the golem from the back, and followed up with a second ball of fire, further staggering the golem. Seeing another opening, Tarkus charged.

The Hollows seemed to be blissfully unaware of the golem and his opponents or otherwise simply ignored them. Robin blinked as they neared. Was she imagining it, or was there a faint blue aura shrouding them? Not having time to stop and ask, she sent another bolt of lightning at the Hollows, striking the forward most one. This proved to be much more effective than when she had attacked the golem, as the electricity surged through the Hollow, blasting it off of its feet. It did not rise again after it landed on the floor.

Lissa sent a spell of her own, a gale of wind that buffeted one of them, shredding its chest and leaving massive gashes, but it was not enough to kill it. At that point they were upon them. With Tarkus and Tiki still fighting the golem, the Hollows fell upon the group's second line. Solaire and Chrom. Robin had organized the group into three different lines, the hard hitting and durable Tarkus and Tiki in the front, the flexible and more maneuverable Solaire and Chrom in the middle, with the ranged spell casters of her and Lissa in the back. She had considered it a possibility that their enemies would get past the front line, and while she wished that it had not happened to begin with, she was confident that they were prepared for this setback.

Chrom swung Falchion at the Hollow that his sister had weakened, digging into its side and causing the Hollow to go limp. Solaire went for a much more direct route. As a Hollow neared him, he gave a single, powerful swipe with his sword. The edge of the blade cleaved through the Hollow's throat and it fell to the ground, its head rolling off to the side. Robin smiled, but she reminded herself that the three Hollows that had died were part of a much bigger mob, one that was still advancing on them.

A trio of Hollows neared them, one heading for Solaire and two for Chrom. Falchion swung through the air and one of the Hollows raised its club to block it. With Chrom's original target of the Hollow's face now blocked, he shifted Falchion a few inches to the left, bringing it down on the arm holding the club. It went through in one clean swipe, everything from the elbow down landing on the ground, the club clattering away.

The other Hollow had made its move while its fellow had been dismembered. Chrom was able to pull Falchion back and put it between himself and the club. When it struck the blade, Robin expected him to grunt and maybe be pushed back a bit, but nothing more than that. Instead, Chrom was thrown off of his feet, flying a good couple of feet, before landing with a gasp of pain on the ground. Shock overtook Robin. None of the Hollows that they had faced before had been anywhere near strong enough to do something like that.

A loud splintering noise filled her ears and out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that Solaire had blocked a blow from the Hollow advancing on him with his shield. A massive crack, one that almost broke his wooden shield in two, had splintered out from where the club had struck. That was all the evidence she needed. Something was different about these Hollows.

The Hollow that had knocked Chrom off of his feet advanced on him, the one with a severed arm feebly shuffling after. Instinct took over. Robin dashed forward, slashing her sword at the stomach of the lead Hollow. It faltered for a second as its blood was splattered on the ground, but raised its club and brought it down. Realizing that it was aiming for her head just in time, Robin blocked the blow just in time.

As club met sword, Robin felt a massive might behind it. Her legs buckled as they struggled to stay upright, eventually failing, and forcing her to her knees. Her mind reeled as she tried to make sense of the situation. If she had had her eyes closed, she would have sworn that she had just blocked a blow from Tarkus. How could something of this size, that looked like it only had basic motor control, be this strong?

Forcing her sword arm back up, she drove it into the chest of the Hollow, burying it up to the hilt. The Hollow halted the swing it had been preparing, its arm going limp, but it still stayed upright. To be safe, she pulled out her sword and stabbed down three more times, at which point the Hollow finally collapsed. Grunting and feeling slightly winded, Robin began to get to her feet. Before she could do so however, the one armed Hollow was upon her. With no weapon, it flailed its arm wildly, catching Robin in the face.

She felt like she had just been kicked by a horse. The next thing that she knew she was on the ground, something hot and wet in her mouth, her head reeling. Craning her head up, she saw the Hollow still swinging its arm, bearing down on her. She pushed off of the ground, forcing herself to her feet, but before she could get all the way back up, a bright gold and silver sword buried itself in the one armed Hollow. Deep between the shoulder and its neck.

Looking up, she saw Chrom pulling Falchion out with one hand and offering her the other. "Are you ok?" he whispered hastily as she took it. Pulled to her feet, Robin gave a short nod.

"Are you?" she asked.

"Of course. I have you here don't I?" he said. Then, to Robin's surprise, he leaned in and gave her a light kiss. She couldn't help but smile, even as she felt a little warm in the face.

" _He's so sweet,_ " she thought. _"Even if now really isn't the time._ " Breaking away from her husband, her eyes darted to Solaire. The edge of his sword was lodged in the face of the Hollow he had been fighting, and he was now pushing on the corpse with his foot to yank his sword free. He was not looking at either that, or the Hollows that were still alive however. His gaze was turned upward, at the many balconies above them.

"THERE!" he shouted as he finally pulled his sword free. He pointed upward with his shield arm, at one of the balconies. Following his direction, Robin looked up and saw a stall thin figure standing on the balcony. Dressed in blue and gold robes, a narrow black helmet and holding a trident in its hands, it was doing something very odd. Despite the severity of the situation, Robin found herself biting back the urge to laugh. The figure was doing the most absurd dance, kicking out to the side while spinning and holding its trident above its head. "He's making the Hollows stronger!" Solaire shouted.

That was all Robin needed to hear. Holding her tome up in front of her, she sent her third blast of lightning that day up to meet the dancing figure. It tore through its side, its muscles spasming as the lighting surged through it. It stopped kicking and began to slowly turn on the spot, a soft blue light converging around it. Whatever it was doing, it was never able to complete it, as a second bolt of lightning, one narrow and straight like a spear, soared through the air and landed in the figure's chest. It crumpled, slumping over the railing, hanging there lifelessly.

Of the handful of Hollows that were left, the strange blue haze that had been clinging to them like a cloak faded away. One lurched forward ungracefully, swinging its club, which Robin hastily blocked. It was hardly a soft blow, she struggled to keep her blade in place and to maintain her balance, but it was nowhere near as strong as the blow that had forced her to her knees.

She slashed at the Hollow with her sword, at the same time that Chrom did. The pair of blades made quick work of it, the lifeless body falling to the ground. Only a couple of Hollows were left alive after that, still slowly stumbling towards them. Solaire, having dropped his shield and now holding his talisman, held up his hand over his head. A bolt of lightning grew out of it, sparking brightly in his hand, until he let out a small grunt and threw it like a javelin. Robin realized where the attack that had killed the figure on the balconies had come from as Lissa sent another gale at the Hollows. A few more volleys of this quickly took care of the ones that were left.

Robin panted as the last Hollow hit the ground, only to feel a horrible jerk in her stomach when she remembered the golem that had attacked Tarkus and Tiki. Ahead of them, it had charged at Tarkus and instead of trying to punch him, had merely slammed into him with the full of its weight. Tarkus was pushed back into the wall, his shield grinding against the golem, pushing back as hard as he could.

From behind, a green tail swept out, wrapping around one of the golem's legs and tugging. The golem was thrown off balance, toppling over and landing with a loud thud on its back. Tarkus dropped his shield, took his greatsword in both hands, and with a roar brought it smashing down. It bit into the neck of the golem and shattered it, the head splintering before it too broke apart into a hundred pieces. The headless body writhed before bright white light engulfed it. When the light cleared, there was no trace of the golem left, but there was something else.

Where the golem had once been, a figure in armor now lay, the size of an ordinary human. It swore gray armor that looked bloated, as if designed for a vert fat person. On the person's back was bastard sword and small shield with a single spike. The thing that drew Robin's attention most of all however, was the helmet. There was no other way to describe it, the helmet looked like an onion. It was easily the most absurd armor choice that she had ever seen, and she had seen Cherche's completely backless armor.

That would have to come later though, the important thing now was to figure out who this person was and why they had been inside the golem that had been trying to kill them. Thankfully, Solaire stepped forward and shed some light on the matter. "A knight of Catarina," he said. "Couldn't be any other knight. No one else has armor like that." Robin had no difficulty believing him.

"But what was a knight doing in that golem?" she asked.

Solaire shook his head. "I've never seen golems like this before, let alone ones that have people in them. I'm just as lost as you are. It-ah. Perhaps the best way to figure out is to ask."

The Catarina knight was moaning softly, pushing up to one knee. "Where am I?" it said. Robin blinked. The voice was unmistakably a woman's, but that wasn't what surprised her. What surprised her was how downright soft and gentle the voice was. It threw her off, to see such bulky armor, a massive sword and a spiked shield combined with a voice that was so innocent sounding.

"You're in the Duke's Archives," Tarkus said kindly, sheathing his greatsword and picking up his shield. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Um," the woman said, scratching her absurd looking helmet. "The last thing I remember was being attacked by a channler. I don't remember anything else between now and then. It sent some kind of spell at me and everything went fuzzy."

"What's a channler?" Robin asked. Solaire pointed upward at the thin figure that was still hanging over the balcony. "Ah," she said.

"I've seen them here and there," Solaire said. "Never had idea what they were. If they brought her here, then there's a good chance that they work for Seath." He paused for a second, staring at the dead channler, before turning his attention on the knight. "I'm sorry, we didn't get your name."

"Sieglinde of Catarina," the knight said, reaching around to her back and feeling for her sword and shield. After she had confirmed that they were still there, she turned to face Tarkus. "Thank you very much for saving me."

Tarkus simply gave a small nod. "Think nothing of it."

There was a bright green flash as Tiki returned to her human form, something that caused Sieglinde to jump. She rounded on Tiki, gazing at her in silence. Robin didn't need to see through her helmet to tell that a shocked expression was covering her face. "It's a long story," she said. "I promise that we'll tell you everything when we get the chance. In the meantime you might want to get out of here. Seath is somewhere around here, and we intend to take his soul from him. You wouldn't be safe with us."

Sieglinde, to Robin's surprise, merely shrugged. "Nowhere is safe is Lordran," she said. "And you saved my life. The least I can do is help you on your quest. Besides, if the channlers really are working for Seath like your friend said, then he needs to be stopped before anyone else gets captured like I did."

"So this is what the knight at the Bonfire meant when she said Seath had been performing experiments," Tiki said sadly. "Turning people into constructs to fight for him." She looked down at one of the Hollows. "This is probably his doing too." Robin couldn't help but wonder what Seath was trying to accomplish with all of this crystal, but that was something she would have to wonder about later. Preferably when Seath was dead.

"Well Robin, if she wants to fight, we have no right to deny her," Chrom said cheerfully. "Glad to have you with us Sieglinde." Robin couldn't help but smile. Another ally and another friend.

"Just one question," Sieglinde said. "I'm not Undead, I didn't come to Lordran to fulfill the prophecy. I'm looking for someone. He wears the same armor I do, you can't miss him." To emphasize her point, she gently slapped the front of her armor, giving the appearance of someone slapping their massive belly. Robin racked her memory, but she couldn't help but feel like if she had seen someone with armor this distinctive, she would've remembered in three seconds.

Solaire on the other hand, let out a gasp. "You're not Siegmeyer's daughter are you?" he asked.

"I am!" Sieglinde said, sounding overjoyed. "You've seen my father?"

"I've crossed paths with him once or twice," Solaire said. "The last time I saw him was in Anor Londo. He had gotten himself, in his words, into quite a pickle. From what he said though, a friend of mine had helped him out of it. I'm not sure where he is now. He doesn't stay put for very long."

"No," Sieglinde said, sighing in a frustrated manner. "Odd considering he somehow learned how to sleep standing up."

Robin couldn't help but wonder how standing up while sleeping was physically possible. Especially in armor that looked like it was so imbalanced that you would topple forward if you stood still. " _I just cannot let this armor go can I?_ " she thought to herself. " _Well, it DOES look incredibly bizarre. I think I'm well within my rights._ "

Solaire laughed. "That's right! I remember him doing that now." He shook his head, still chuckling. "Well I've already ran into him once, and my friend twice now. I imagine that if you stick with us we'll run into him sooner or later."

Sieglinde nodded. "Very well. Forgive me, I have another question. Why exactly are you trying to kill Seath? Has he wronged you?"

"Not exactly," Chrom said. "We're actually companions of the Chosen Undead. She's on the upper levels of the castle, searching for him there. She needs his soul in order to succeed Gwyn and take his place." Chrom looked a little nervous and Robin knew that he was wondering if he had gotten everything right about the Chosen Undead. Considering that Sieglinde nodded as he spoke, he clearly hadn't said anything that sounded strange to her.

"My father always did find interesting company," she said. "Perhaps we should…oh." She had turned the other way, no doubt looking for a way forward, when she noticed the shattered bookcase that Tarkus had been thrown into. It was sagging heavily, one half leaning to heavily to the side that it looked like the tiniest of pushes would overturn it. "What happened here?" she asked.

Tarkus rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the destruction himself. After an awkward pause he answered. "You were in a giant golem, a crystal one. You and I fought. I think it might have broken a rib but aside from that I'm fine."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lissa darted forward, staff in hand, and stopped in front of the half giant. She gave it a small wave over Tarkus' chest and a soft golden light emanated from it, disappearing after a little bit. "There, all better," Lissa said cheerfully. Tarkus gave his chest a few experimental jabs, lightly tapping it with his fist.

"I almost forgot that you could do that," he said kindly, reaching out and softly tussling Lissa's hair. She gave a soft blush as she turn and ran over to Robin. Now that the battle was over and she was no longer fighting for her life, she realized that blood was trickling down her face from out of her nose, a smarting pain accompanying. A wave of Lissa's staff and the pain vanished along with the flow of blood. Smiling sheepishly, Lissa reached into her dress and produced a clean white cloth, handing it to Robin. She took it gratefully, beginning to wipe the blood off with it.

"Oh dear," Sieglinde said, sounding distressed. "I was in a golem? And I did that to you? Oh I'm so sorry." She bowed deeply to Tarkus, who merely waved his hand.

"If you can't remember anything then you most likely were not in any control," Tarkus said. "The golem had a mind of its own." Sieglinde stood up straight again, and Robin was quite confident that she wasn't convinced. "Besides, your fight with me may have done us quite a bit of good. I couldn't help but notice something very interesting about this bookcase." Putting his hand on the precariously balanced portion of the bookcase, he gave it a firm shove. It fell, splintering as it hit the ground, dozens of books tumbling in every direction. The other half of the bookcase was still standing, but with only half they were granted a good look at what the bookcase had been gathering. A hidden passage.

"Seath must be paranoid that someone would come looking for his secrets," Solaire said, stepping through and looking around. There were a few more bookcases in the room, along with a staircase that led downward.

"Do we want to check down there?" Chrom asked. "We're supposed to be looking for Seath. There's no way he could fit through this passage, unless he's a particularly small dragon."

He wasn't wrong, but Robin still thought that this passage was worth checking. "If he had this put up then there's a good chance that whatever he has behind it is something he didn't want found," Robin said, depositing the now blood stained cloth in her pocket. "What's more, he had a golem put outside it. It's very likely he did that to guard it, even if a potential intruder didn't realize that the passage was there. We may be able to use whatever's down there to our advantage."

Chrom took another look at the passage before giving a small nod. Solaire stepped out of the room to pick up his shield, Tarkus retrieving his at the same time, before the group moved into the room. They resumed their old formation, Sieglinde joining Tiki and Tarkus at the front without being told, her sword and shield drawn. Robin didn't feel the need to correct her, as with a sword that large she would be at her best in the front.

They slowly crept down the staircase, weapons at the ready, until they reached the bottom. Robin had been expecting the staircase to lead to some hidden underground chamber, a storeroom or even a hidden prison. Instead, stone floor gave way to soft green glass and bright sunlight shining down upon them. Robin blinked as she stepped out into the sun, her eyes adjusting to the brightness. As they finally did, she was able to fully take in the area around her. Her jaw dropped open.

For the most part, they were in a normal courtyard. A handful of trees was scattered about, a flower here or there, and overall there was a peaceful feel to the area. At the very far end of the courtyard, however, the ground slopped downward and lead into a massive cave. A gaping maw of an opening that Robin could very easily see a dragon fitting into. The size wasn't the only noticeable thing about it. The gargantuan cavern was made not out of stone, but by the same bright blue crystal that she had constantly seen since arriving at the Archives.

A few minutes later, they had crossed the courtyard and were standing in front of it, all of them staring at it in awe. Lissa took a few steps forward and peered down into it. "I'm just saying," she said. "If I were a dragon I'd sleep somewhere like that."

"I think that might say more about you than the dragon," Chrom teased. He jumped back just in time to avoid the end of Lissa's staff being slammed onto his foot, grinning all the way.

"Jokes aside, Lissa might be right. This could very well be where Seath sleeps," Robin said. "Be on your guard." With that, they began to make their descent. It was a deeply unnerving experience. While there was a solid bridge of crystal in front of them, there were no supports to either side. A quick glance over the edge once they were well inside confirmed what Robin had been fearing. The cave that they were stretched so far down that it was practically a chasm. She could spot other crystal bridges below, twisting and turning, but the very bottom of the cave could only be squinted.

Tilting her head up, she took in the rest of the gave. It was so large that Robin had a hard time imagining such a cave being formed naturally. The ceiling towered above her, and the walls to either side stretched so far that crossing the gap between the bridge and them would only be possible with a pegasus. The whole thing made Robin feel dizzy, so she turned her attention to the ground in front of her.

They continued to move forward, only to have the bridge suddenly stop. It didn't curve, it didn't lead to a slope or another bridge that they could continue on, it simply stopped. Over the edge there was nothing but empty space and a long fall. "Damn it," Chrom said, peering down over the right side. "I guess Seath never carved out a footpath for those of us who can't fly."

"I might be able to get down there, I might even be able to carry one of you," Tiki suggested. "But I don't think fighting a fully grown dragon without everyone present would be very wise. Especially considering that Seath is supposed to be much bigger than the ones we are used to. And the arms in my dragon form aren't very large, I'd only be able to carry one of the smaller ones of our group. Most likely Lissa."

Lissa pouted as she glared at Tiki. Sieglinde, on the other hand, was simply starting at Tiki. Robin could feel a dozen different questions burning underneath that onion helmet."We should probably double back then," Chrom said. "Find the others. We're going to need Aversa, Cordelia and Sumia to get down there. With Tiki we should be able to get a sizable force down there. Unless anyone can think of another way down."

Robin bit back a sigh. They were so close to something, she could just feel it. Wether Seath was hiding at the bottom of this cave or had a secret down there, they had been brought to a halt by one of the most simple defenses a location could have. No way to approach it. She weaved her way through the group to the very front, stopping just where the bridge ended. She looked down, eyes moving from one of the bridges below her to another. If one of them was close enough to this one, they could be safely lowered down via drop.

Tiny fragments of crystal were floating down from the ceiling, gently buffeted by a gentle breeze that was working its way in from the entrance. One landed on her face and Robin impatiently brushed it off, sending it soaring down over the front of the bridge. As soon as it reached the level of the bridge, it stopped, floating there in the middle of the air. Robin's brain ground to a halt. There was nothing supporting the flake. It was simply there, defying gravity.

" _No,_ " Robin thought slowly. " _It couldn't be. Could it?_ "

"All right, let's try and reverse the formation," Chrom said. "We don't want to head back up with our lighter fighters in the f-Robin? What are you doing?" Robin had knelt down, eyes still on the flake, and had raised her sword. Gently, she brought the hilt down. There was an audible land as it tried to bass through what looked like thin air, only to meed solid resistance. Robin smiled as she brought it down a few more times, moving to the right few inches as she did so. Each time, her hilt hit something tangible, something that was level with the path if it had not suddenly ended. "Robin?"

She got back to her feet, beaming. "There's a path here," she said triumphantly. "It's just invisible." To prove her point, she took a step forward, seemingly walking off of the bridge, but both of her feet found solid but invisible ground. Robin turned to see everyone gawking at her. At least she assumed it was everyone, Solaire, Tarkus and Sieglinde's faces were all obscured by helmets. At the very least, their gazes were fixed on her. "Here's the plan," she said. "Use your weapons like a blind man's staff. Feel out the path in front of you. Go slow, we can't tell if it twists and turns."

Dumbly nodding, Tarkus and Tiki took the lead again, Tarkus pointing his sword out in front of him and scrapping it on the invisible ground. Having nothing to check the ground with, Tiki had assumed her dragon form. She was flapping her wings and hovering as she moved forward, safe regardless of there was ground below her or now. Solaire followed after with Sieglinde, Sieglinde's much longer bastard sword proving to be more effective for searching for the path than Solaire's longsword. Nonetheless, the sunlight warrior still pressed his blade to the ground, bending over slightly to do so.

"Well you'd better go first," she said, looking at Chrom. "We don't want to mess up the forma-" she was cut off as he leaned forward, gently kissing her forehead. She could feel her face heating up again as he smiled. "You're brilliant," he whispered, before putting Falchion to the ground and moving forward

" _Why don't I tell him to stop doing that?_ " she wondered. A small voice in her head answered her. " _Because you love it_." Giving a smile that she was certain couldn't be any more stupid looking if she tried, she followed her husband.

Lissa followed her, not so softly saying, "Chrom and Robin sitting in a tree," and she was certain that she saw Chrom tense up as a result. Personally she was glad for the distraction. Walking across the crystal bridge had been bad enough when it had actually been visible. Walking across an invisible bridge was nothing short of terrifying. Robin had never considered herself to be afraid of heights, but this cave was doing everything it could to change that.

Trying to keep her eyes on Chrom's back, she ended up looking down against her better judgement. There was nothing below her feet to block her vision of the massive drop below her, one that would no doubt reduce her body to a splattering of blood and organs. Her heart jumped into her mouth as she forced herself to look back up. She focused heavily on the back's of Solaire and Chrom, following directly in their footsteps to make sure she was taking the right path.

Their progress had slowed to a snail's pace, but no one had uttered a word of complaint. There seemed to be an unspoken yet universal agreement that everyone was willing to take as much time as they needed. There were a couple of heart stopping moments when Tarkus', Chrom's and Solaire's swords would go out over the invisible edge, causing them to stumble. Somehow though, no one had fallen. After what felt like an hour, they had finally reached the bottom.

"We're going to have to go back up you know," Tarkus said as they reached the ground.

"Please don't remind me," Lissa said grumpily. She was shaking slightly, something Robin couldn't blame her for. "I really hope the others find us, flying is much better than that. At least you can see what's underneath you."

"We may not have to," Solaire said hopefully. "There's always a chance of a Bonfire being up ahead. Seath seems like the type to have one nearby, if only to study it." That brought a wide smile to Lissa's face, and Robin felt a glow of warmness inside of her. A quick way out sounded like heaven right now. Still, that would have to wait until Seath was dealt with.

Clearing her mind, she took in the area in front of them. There was a massive opening in the wall in front of them. Robin couldn't help but notice that it appeared to be more than big enough for a dragon to fit through. "Move forward," she whispered, just loud enough for everyone in the group to hear. "This formation may not hold up against a dragon. Be prepared to scatter if we have to." Slowly, they crept through the opening.

There was no exit inside the cavern, which was a circular, almost domelike room. Robin glanced around. Crystals of very odd shapes were jutting out of the way, no two alike. One was fat and almost a perfect sphere, another on the far side of the cavern was jutting upward with a jagged edge, one at opposite end from where Robin was standing was curved and so thin it looked like you could break it just by touching it, one that looked disturbingly like a dragon's head hung from the ceiling, and another resembled a puddle of water that had spread out and then frozen.

"It's even more bizarre than the rest of the cave," Chrom said. "And the rest of the cave already looked like a sculptor's nightmare come to life."

"Then there's that," Tiki said, pointing at the ground. Robin's attention had been focused on the abnormal crystal formations, and hadn't paid any attention to what was directly in front of her. Looking down, she saw deep gouges in the ground. Claw gouges. "He's been here," Tiki said. "But he's not here now."

"There's the chance that this might be where he sleeps," Robin said. "I can't think of any other reason that he would come all the way down here if not to sleep. The problem is what do we do now? Normally I would suggest setting an ambush and lying in wait, but there's no place where we can properly hide in here. He'd see us well before we could surprise him." She turned around. They could possibly cram a few people in the gaps between the opening and the left and right walls, but not all of them.

"Lucina and the others are still searching for him too," Chrom pointed out. "They might have found him already. And even if they don't, the longer that we stay here, the more danger that we put them in by forcing them to wander around where he isn't." Robin swallowed. They weren't in the most ideal of situations.

"Ok, new plan," she said, her mind racing. "We pull back. Make it so that this was purely a reconnaissance run. We'll head back on up, find the others, and head back to Ylisse. We rest up and then head back to the mouth of the cave, this time with everyone that we take on flyers. We'll wait in that hidden room, watching the cavern until Seath goes in. We'll wait a little bit for him to fall asleep and then we go in. We'll kill him while he's asleep, and if he wakes up before we get the killing blow we'll still have an advantage. He'll be disoriented and weakened from the blows that we managed to get in."

Everyone nodded, though Robin couldn't help but notice that Sieglinde, Tarkus, Lissa and Tiki had hesitated. She hoped that it was from shock of the sudden change in plans and disappointment that they had not accomplished their goal, not a lack of faith in her new plan. She had just come up with it on the spot but there weren't any flaws in it. At least not flaws that she could think of. She frowned. There was one thing that she was certain of, Seath wasn't here right now and they couldn't let the other group wander around aimlessly. They had to pull back. She could iron out the finer details when they were safe again.

Lissa groaned loudly. "Solaire, you said there would be a Bonfire!" she said. "Now we've got to go all the way back up that invisible path.

"My apologizes," Solaire said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I was certain that there would be." Robin tried to not think about the long climb back up, and gave the cavern one last look. She was about to make her way to the entrance when the ground beneath her shook.

"What was that?" Lissa asked nervously. As if attempting to answer her, the ground shook again, this time more viciously. "Oh Gods, I think something is coming," Lissa whimpered. "Is it him?" A third tremor shook the cavern and the entire group spun around to face the entrance, weapons at the ready. That was when Robin saw it.

A figure was swooping down from the entrance above them, doing some of the most ungraceful flying Robin had ever seen. Its wings were beating viciously, but it kept jerking up and down like a cork trapped on a stormy sea. Its lower torso was a misshapen mass that collided with one of the invisible bridges, sending a fourth quake through the floor as it finally reached them. It didn't land so much as it crashed at the mouth to the cavern, dozens of tiny crystal fragments shooting out from the area of impact.

Even though its torso was a twisted mass of crystal with three tails sprouting out and it had four more wings than normal, Robin recognized the unmistakable face of a dragon. The face of Seath the Scaleless. "GET AWAY FROM IT!" Seath roared. With no lower limbs, he moved forward by grabbing the ground in front of him and pulling himself forward, his hardened torso scrapping along the ground as he did. "You learned my secret!? You think you can kill me now!? DO YOU!?"

A few of the others made moves to charge forward, but Robin threw her arm to the side, signaling them to stop. An idea had just hatched in her mind. "We'll give it back to you on one condition!" she bellowed, doing her best to make her voice sound deep and commanding. "We want the Lord Soul Gwyn gave you! Give it to us and we'll be on our way!"

She could see Chrom out of the corner of her eye, staring at her blankly. She could only imagine the others were doing the same. She prayed that Seath wasn't looking at them, giving away her bluff. She had no idea what Seath thought that they had, but she was in no hurry to correct him. Something that could help kill him, and judging by the way he was acting, it was in this cavern. It had to be hidden somewhere. If she could just get him to tell her, they could have a massive advantage over Seath.

Seath growled in pure anger, looking directly down at Robin. "Miserable little humans," he said. "You were only ever good as pawns in the war against my kind. Three of Gwyn's knights died for every dragon slain, but your kind suffered losses a hundred times more! Worthless, pathetic, little rodents, your purpose was little more than a distraction. Your greatest contribution was dying by the thousands to allow the Lords to put their plans into action, without fire and death raining down upon them. And now you seek to quarrel with the last dragon?"

He let out a bitter laugh. "The Lords towered above you, but even with the power they stole from the fire they were mere specks compared to the dragons. They had to resort to trickery and overwhelming numbers to stand a chance." One of his three tails viciously smashed into the ground as he flexed it in rage. "And you insignificant ants feel you can challenge me!?"

Robin simply nodded. "Yes. We've fought foes bigger than you, stronger than you, and we've sent them spiraling to their deaths. You should be easy by comparison." Chrom let out a small hiss, drawing his finger across his throat. She understood why he was acting this way. There was a long list of unwise actions one could perform in life. Insulting a dragon to its face was near the top. However, they would be fighting Seath no matter what happened, and he was already angry for reasons Robin couldn't understand. If she could just push him, he might let something important loose.

"Your body will be unrecognizable as one," Seath hissed. "I will not leave even bones left. You will be reduced to ashes on the wind, whether or not you are Undead like your pathetic champion was!" Robin felt like someone had just stabbed her through the heart. Champion? Fare? Had Seath encountered the other group before coming down here? Was Lucina ok? Were the others? She wanted to scream at the dragon, demanding to know what had happened, but she couldn't afford to slip now.

"You will rue the day that you ever…wait." Seath paused. He raised his head, looking directly at the ceiling. Robin's eyes darted up, wondering what he was looking at, but she had barely glanced it before Seath had looked down again. "You said you have it and you want it in exchange for my Lord Soul. Tell me. What is it?"

"You know what it is," Robin said. Her voice was still confident, but it was the only part of her that was. He had figured it out. She had no idea how, but he had figured it out.

Seath gave a grin. A vicious toothy grin that showed off teeth the size of swords. "You're lying," he said. "You stumbled upon this place by pure luck, not even knowing what to look for. And to think that I was so worried that I would finally become undone." He shook his head, chucking softly. "Then again, on the off chance that this is a very elaborate ruse-" without warning, he lowered his head, his jaw opening wide. What appeared to be a pale mist shot out, threatening to engulf her.

Before she could react, a hand grabbed her from behind and forced her to the ground. The next thing she knew, Solaire was in front of her, his talisman in hand. It flashed brightly, and what looked like a golden mist materialized around him. The mist washed over him as he kneeled with his shield up, taking the brunt of it and shielding Robin from it. A hiss of pain made its way out form under his helmet. Robin dared not move, having no idea what harmful properties the mist had. Just as soon as it had begun, the mist dissipated.

Seath hissed in frustration. "Magic barrier?" he said, sounding irritated.

"Great magic barrier," Solaire corrected in a triumphant tone, standing up and looking no worse for wear. "You are the grandfather of sorcery Seath. But even the most powerful sorcerer in the world is helpless against miracles designed to stop them."

"How long Gwyn? How long have your servants been creating the tools of my destruction?" Seath asked, speaking to no one in particular.

Robin scrambled to her feet, but as she did, something caught her eye. Just behind Seath, on the far side of the entrance to the cavern, she could swear she could see someone. A figure in dark blue robes that gave way at the torso, arms and legs to black armor lined with pale white, a pointed helmet of the same metal resting upon their head. Their face covered by a white porcelain mask that had a pair of dark slits that acted as eyes. The figure had a sword in each hand, a pale silver one and a bright gold one in the other, both of which glistened in the light.

Robin blinked as she tried to focus on the figure, but as her eyes opened again, it was gone. She pushed it out of her mind, they had to deal with Seath right now. Raising up her tome, she sent a bolt of lighting directly at Seath's face. It was a direct hit, searing off a good part of the right side of his face, including the eye. She was about to smile when, before her very eyes, his wounds began to heal himself. The skin grew back over the seared flesh, the eye sliding back into the skull, and when it was over, Seath looked as if he had never been harmed.

Solaire tossed a spear of lighting at Seath, only for it to have the same effects as when Robin tried. Seath laughed. "Trying to fall back on the ploy that helped killed my brethren? Don't you know your own history? 'Gwyn's bolts peeled apart their ancient scales.' Have you forgotten my name already? Seath the _Scaleless_." A ball of green flame sped past Robin and seared at Seath's stomach, but for the third time the wound disappeared in a second.

Seath lunged forward, his crystalized body dragging on the ground as he did, shipping with his claws and snapping with his teeth. Robin and Solaire both ducked out of the way, each heading in a different direction. Neither of them were fast enough. One of Seath's claws reached for her, and a splitting pain consumed her as she felt two of his talons tear into her back. The blow forced her forward, knocking her off balance and sending her sprawling face first into the ground. Meanwhile, she heard the unmistakable sound of Seath's jaws clamping shut and a cry of pain from Solaire.

The twin gashes in her back still throbbing, Robin gingerly forced herself to her feet. If she stayed down then she was dead. Whatever happened she had to keep moving. The very second she was back on both feet, Seath's maw opened once again and dove downward. He was aiming at Solaire, who was on the ground, his shield arm a bleeding mess. Fighting through the pain, Robin summoned up one more blast of lighting. This one found its mark directly in Seath's mouth, blasting his tongue out before the wounds healed themselves yet again. It did what Robin had wanted to however, and Seath hesitated, glancing to the side to see exactly what had attacked him.

"Sieglinde! Help me!" Tarkus roared. The half-giant charged forward, his shield on his back and sword in both hands. Sieglinde's head darted back and forth between Seath and Tarkus, taking her bastard sword in both hands and following his lead. Robin's confusion on what they were planning only lasted an instant. With Seath's head turned to face her, his neck was exposed. Tarkus let out a deep roar as he neared Seath, bringing his blade down. Tarkus' strength carried the blade a good way through, but even then it came to a stop two thirds of the way through.

The wound had only just begun to close when Sieglinde reached Seath, her own blade being forced down. It ripped apart the tendons that had reattached and continued to where Tarkus blade had stopped, proceeding the rest of the way through. Her sword stopped not on flesh, but on hard crystal ground. Seath's head fell from the rest of his body. Robin watched, hoping against hope that decapitation was beyond Seath's ability to heal.

It wasn't. Before his head had even hit the ground, sinew and tenders sprouted out of the stump of his neck, attaching to the head and pulling it back. They realigned it with the rest of the body, and before Robin even had time to blink, it had fully healed. Seath's head pulled back, just in time too. Both Tarkus and Sieglinde had attempted to repeat their attack, and instead both of their swords swung through thin air. They clattered on the ground, a chip flying out of Sieglinde's sword as they did.

Seath looked down, his jaw twisted into what Robin assumed was the dragon equivalent of a grin. "My kind relied on their stone scales to achieve immortality," Seath said, an insufferable smugness in his voice. "I have surpassed them. Eons will come and go, your pitiful kingdoms will rise and fall, but I will endure! No blade, no spell, no trick and no champion will ever slay me!"

Lissa hurried forward, lowering her staff to Solaire's mangled arm. "It's a miracle he only scrapped you," she said breathlessly. "Healing magic can only do so much." Solaire nodded, pushing himself upward the second his wounds were healed. Robin hastily moved across the cavern as Tarkus and Sieglinde swiped at Seath again. They barely dodged out of the way of his claws as Chrom darted forward, hacking off one of the claws. It had similar results to when Tarkus and Sieglinde decapitated him.

Robin was starting to panic. None of their attacks were doing any damage to him, no damage that was having any impact anyway. There was no way for them to retreat. Even if Seath hadn't smashed the bridge on the way down, they wouldn't be able to retreat that way with Seath attacking them. Even if they could somehow move up the pathway faster, it would be all too easy for him to knock them down. Tiki would be the only one who could feasibly escape that way. She might be able to bring help, but that was assuming she could move fast enough to find the others, and even if she did there would still be no way to kill Seath. They were trapped down here, with a dragon that seemed impervious to harm.

" _I need a plan!"_ she thought as she stopped by Lissa, who wordlessly began to heal her back. _"I need a plan now!"_

XXXXX

Author's Note: I know that Sieglinde's golem is supposed to be outside, in the area that's in front of Seath's cave, but I thought to myself "I'm writing a fight with a golem already, do I really want to write another one that will come out being similar?" So what was originally supposed to be a standard blue golem, a standard enemy in the area, became Sieglinde's gold golem.

Also the Crystal Caves are a deeply challenging section of the game, but that's only because the initial invisible paths can be seen by falling crystal flakes, while all the others can only be seen by dropping stones on them in a tedious manner that has to be repeated every few steps. IRL it would be as simple as depicted in this chapter.

And I know the last chapter was a cliffhanger too, but this is the kind of things that happen when you have to write someone like Seath, a dragon that can't be hurt in gameplay until you do a very certain thing. Don't worry, I plan on wrapping this up next chapter (hopefully.)

Also…I suppose I might make this announcement early. I'm putting together a . Nothing too solid right now, just ideas, and I won't put it up until I update From the Ashes again, but I do plan on starting a . If you have any thoughts, ideas or criticisms related to that, please share them. I'm just announcing it now, I'm still working it out. More details will be revealed in a couple of weeks, but for now rest assured that I'm not putting anything behind a pay wall. The only thing unique to donators will be early access to chapters that I'm working on, and probably being able to submit ideas for a once a month one shot series I'm planning on starting. We'll see how it goes.


	8. Broken

Chapter 8

Broken

XXXXX

Fare awoke to an all too familiar feeling. Pain. Unbearable pain. That was the only thing that she could feel. She could only see a vast empty void, only hear a deafening blanket of silence, only the pain was real. Her skin was burning, it was on fire, white hot hooks were digging in under the surface and tearing her apart from the inside. She felt her mouth open wide in agonizing screams, but no noise came out. Maybe she could not longer speak, or maybe she simply couldn't hear it. It didn't matter, she knew what she had to do.

Reaching out, she felt around, desperately trying to stay focused despite the agony, and felt a ledge. Upwards and at an angle. She grabbed it and began to pull herself upward, clinging tightly as she held herself up. It was a grueling task with the blades that were eviscerating her organs, but she knew that if she fell, she would never get up again.

Slowly, painfully, she continued to pull herself upward. With every new nook and cranny that she found to continue climbing, the pain intensified. She wanted to cry, she wanted to just let go and let eternal nothingness consume her. How could it be any worse than this? She couldn't though. She had a mission to complete. There were people counting on her. She had to get back. She had to.

All of a sudden, something pierced her vision, breaking the abyss of nothingness. A small faint light, just above her. The pain was spiking higher than ever, to the point where it was nearly unbearable, but she was so close. She was almost there. Almost slipping, she threw herself upward, desperately grasping at the light. She felt something hard, stone. Getting a firm grip on it, she pulled herself upward as hard as she could.

The next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her stomach. All of her senses had come back and were overwhelming her. She blinked dumbly as the light blinded her, taking a few seconds to adjust. As she finally did, she looked around. She had expected to resurrect at the Darkmoon Knightess' Bonfire, after all it had been the last Bonfire she had rested at. She was not at the knight's Bonfire though, in fact she had no idea where she was.

The wall to her right was made out of wood, as was the floor beneath her. To her left however, was a set of iron bars that had been warped with the crystal that they had seen all throughout the Archives. A Bonfire was crackling softly to her right. "Oh Mother of Fire," she whispered, gingerly getting to her feet. "What happened?" She winced as she got up, remembering that she was Undead again. Turning Undead was a very unpleasant affair, not only did your skin feel entirely wrong, but dizziness, nausea, loss of strength and feelings of fatigue were all too common.

"Oh, another visitor?" an annoyed voice said. "Well I hope you're better company than the first. All the racket he's making for nothing." Fare blinked as she realized that she wasn't alone. At the far end of the cell were two people. With a leap of her heart she realized that Oscar was here, currently smashing the full weight of his body into the door to their cell. Despite repeated attempts and growing moans of pain from him, he was making no progress. "Oh give it a rest. Seath was clever enough to set this all up, do you really think he would leave such an obvious flaw?"

Fare's head turned towards the voice and spotted a man sitting not far from Oscar. He wore robes of blue and dull gold, as well as an absurdly large hat whose brim stuck at least a foot out, hiding his face from sight. He seemed more interested in the book opened in his hands than Oscar's escape attempts, which had apparently been taken from the small stack next to him. A staff and a small leather shield lay on the ground beside the books.

She bit back a groan. She recognized that hat anywhere. "Logan, I didn't let you out of that cage so that you could get stuck in another one." Frustration pounded through her. What in the world had Logan been thinking? Marching off to the Archives on his own? He hadn't even been able to handle Sen's Fortress.

"Beg pardon?" Logan asked, looking up from his books. His narrow blue eyes took in Fare, before blinking in recognition. "Ah. It's been awhile hasn't it?" he said. A faint smile spread across his wrinkled face. "Glad to see you alive. Still lucid? Not a Hollow? Good. Though it seems you and your friend got into a tangle with Seath?" Fare gave a small nod. "Well, if you plan to kill him you best give up now. I probably don't need to tell you this, but he's quite invincible now."

"I don't believe that," Oscar growled, giving up his attempts to smash down the door. "If we keep up our assault he'll fall sooner or later! We have the Chosen Undead on our side."

Logan looked at him the same way one would look at a hurt child. "Do you believe that the sky is blue? It doesn't matter what you believe, what matters is that the sky is blue and Seath cannot be killed. He has a crystal, a crystal that he created to imitate the effects of the stone scales of the dragons, and he keeps it deep within his cavern. So long as it exists, he can't be killed."

Fare blinked. So that was how Seath had managed to avoid permanent harm. "We can attack it now then!" Oscar said, his hand gripping his sword. "Seath isn't in this cave you're talking about! He's in a tower."

"Ah. See, that's better," Logan said. "You've moved away from the impossible and into the merely improbable." He paused, stroking his chin. "I suppose it is possible for you to sneak in there and shatter the crystal before he gets there. The problem is that I've been poking into a lot of his research notes, he's left more than a few lying around. He may not be stupid, but he can forget things at times. Could you hold this?" he asked, holding out the book he had currently been reading to Fare. "I'd rather not lose my page, and the spine of this one doesn't cooperate with me."

Feeling a little confused, Fare stepped forward and took the book in both hands, keeping it wide open. As Logan began to leaf through the stack besides him, curiosity got the better of her. She glanced down to see what Logan had been reading. To her surprise, she found that it was the tale of the war between the Lords and the Dragons. Fare's eyes glazed over the book, the familiar words echoing in her mind.

"In the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees and Everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course, light and dark. Then from the dark, They came, and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. Nito, the First of the Dead, The Witch of Izalith and her Daughters of Chaos, Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights. And the Furtive Pygmy, so easily forgotten."

She smiled as she looked away. Then she did a double take. Something was wrong. She had heard these words dozens of times, hundreds of times, but something about these ones were different. She read the paragraph again, looking for the deviation. After a minute, she spotted it. The last line. "And the Furtive Pygmy, so easily forgotten." "Who's the Furtive Pygmy?" she asked out loud.

"A very good question, one that I've been struggling to find the answer to," Logan said. "Bit of an odd addition to the old tale isn't it? I've been combing through the Archives trying to find anything on him, but there's nothing. Not even in that book. But I suspect there was at one point. More than a few pages have been ripped out." Using her finger to keep Logan's place, Fare flipped through the book and realized he was right. At least a dozen pages had been torn out with no subtly or grace, jagged roots being all that remained of them. "But that's a mystery for another time."

He had pulled out another book, a thin journal. "I can only imagine Seath had assistants at one point," Logan said. "Claws aren't very good for drawing and this has some detailed sketched." Flicking through the first few pages, Logan let out a soft "Aha" as he found what he was looking for. "Wards have been placed around the crystal," he narrated. "So that any and all intruders shall be known to thine eyes." Logan scoffed. "It's written like a letter to Seath. But yes, Seath knows when someone is near his crystal. Even if you break it, you still have to kill him. Within his own home. He may not have their scales but he is still an Eternal Dragon. You chances against him are poor."

"Could you show us what the crystal looks like?" Fare asked. Her heart was racing. Seath had a weakness. A weakness that they could exploit. If he hadn't been able to recover from his wounds before, she was confident they could've beaten him. She just had to tell Lucina. Lucina. A horrible realization hit her. She had been so distracted by Logan that she had forgotten all about Lucina and the others. Had they gotten away from Seath?

Looking hesitant, Logan turned the journal around to show her, pointing out the sketch. It was crammed into the top corner, squashed in between the edge of the paper and tiny, barely legible text. She was able to make it out though. It was tall and thin, curved slightly to the side, looking like it should overbalance and shatter as it hit the ground. "I still think you shouldn't go," he said. "All he'd have to do is swallow you. Assuming that you can even get out." Instinctively, Fare glanced at the Bonfire. She could travel through it back to Anor Londo. Logan was shaking his head however.

"He already tried," he said, pointing a finger at Oscar. "Interesting concept, traveling through Bonfires. But Seath seems to have thought of it. He's thought of quite a lot. He put an enchantment on himself. Any Undead he kills end up reborn at this Bonfire, the one he built a cell around. Clever. There's a reason we call him the grandfather of sorcery. Well either way you should probably become Human again, you look dreadful through that visor."

As he spoke, a pang of fatigue hit her and she wanted nothing more than to curl up on the ground and never get up. He was right. Quickly, she handed his book back to him, Logan accepting it as he placed the journal back in the stack. Unhooking a small pouch at her waist, undoing it and emptying out the black specks of Humanity into her hand. Only three fell out. She gaped at the tiny amount. " _I had more than this!"_ she thought angrily. " _Where did it all…oh. Right."_ She remembered now. She remembered sneaking out of Lucina and Chrom's castle and heading towards the Bonfire. She remember where all of her Humanity had gone. She felt a pang of guilt as her mind drifted to the Fair Lady. " _You're easing her pain. You owe her that much at the very least. You can make do with three for now."_

Sliding two of the Humanity back into her pouch, Fare took the third one and crushed it in her palm. She patiently waited for the warm sense of relief that always washed over her when she returned to being a Human. Nothing happened. After waiting a little while longer, she impatiently ripped off one of her gauntlets and looked at her hand. Still bright red, she was still Undead. "Why!?" she barked in frustration. "This has always worked before! Did Seath do this too?"

Logan went a little white. "You…you weren't killed by his breath, were you?" Fare nodded impatiently. What did it matter? "Oh. That would do it. Seath's been experimenting on himself. It's all in here," he pointed to the journal. "He can cause curses with his breath. Like Basilisks." Fare froze. She had been killed by a Basilisks breath once. The disgusting, bug-eyed little serpent had ambushed her in the sewers of Undeadburg. It had been a miserable experience, a form of Hollowing that couldn't be undone via Humanity, only by very hard to come by items. None of which she had on her.

"Chosen Undead, perhaps we should abandon this quest, at least for now," Oscar said, suddenly sounding concerned. "I know a man who can cure this. We should make our way to him before we try to slay Seath. He's a bit eccentric-"

"Yes, I think I've met him," she said, thinking of a man she had encountered in the Undeadburg church once. A man dressed in all black, wearing a golden helm, and with a laugh that sent chills down Fare's spine. "He's cured me before."

Oscar stared at her for a second, as if struggling to belief that she could have been cursed before. "But I never-no matter," he said. "You come first."

"You know, you need to take the first step on your journey before you can reach the destination," Logan said testily. "And you still haven't found a way out of this cell. You can't just ask the guard nicely to give us the keys." As he spoke, Logan pointed to the bars. A serpent man, just like the ones that had attacked the castle in the other world. It glared as Oscar as it passed, but said and did nothing else. There was a thick, iron key hanging from its neck.

Fare didn't know when she had started the move across the cell, but the next thing that she knew she was halfway across. She had no idea if Lucina and her group were still alive, or even if the second group had been attacked by Seath. All she knew was that she needed to get out of the cell and she needed to get out now. As she neared the bars, she gathered fire in her hand. The curse was already taking its toll on her, the flames in her palm were nowhere near as strong as they normally were. Still, they burned hot.

The guard turned its head from Oscar just in time to see Fare throw the fireball. It screeched in agony as it was singed, the weakened flames dying out in seconds. Eyes bursting with anger, it raised the sword it had on its side and swung. Fare jumped back as the blade clattered against the bars, drawing her own sword. The monster hissed and leaned forward, siding its sword hand through the bar, so that it could be swung inside the cell. It had just brought his weapon up as Fare began to charge forward, when suddenly it gurgled violently.

Fare blinked, and realized that a longsword had been driven through the serpent's throat, up to the hilt. Oscar had angled his through the bars and had thrust it upward. "Brilliant plan!" he called excitedly. "These beasts may be able to wield a sword, but they only posses low cunning! We can-" he was cut off as the serpent lurched at him, feebly swiping at him. The blow glanced off his armor, but still knocked him to the ground. His sword fell out of his grip, still stuck in the serpents head. The snake raised its weapon again.

Fare made to attack, but Logan was faster. He had grabbed his staff from the floor and did not hesitate to use it. A massive, concentrated orb of blue energy shot out from the head of the staff, soared across the cell and through the bars, tearing into the chest of the guard. It slumped forward, stuck between the bars, dying before it could react.

"That could have gone smoother if you had told us what you were planning," Logan said, sounding rather grumpy and he picked him his shield and got to his feet. "But I suppose congratulations are in order."

Fare gave a small nod as she sheathed her sword, barely listening to Logan. She reached through the bars and pulled Oscar's sword out of the dead creature's throat, before pulling the key off as well. "Thank you," she said softly, looking at Oscar as he got to his feet.

"Think nothing of it," Oscar said. He shot a glare at Logan. "I know that your plan was master crafted. Don't listen to him." Despite Oscar's reassurances, Fare couldn't help but think that Logan had a point. She had been quick to act, almost recklessly so. Oscar could have been impaled if Logan had not been so quick with his sorceries. Nevertheless, she had no time to think about it. They had to move.

The moment that Oscar took his sword back from her, she slipped her hand through the bars around the door and thrust the key into the lock. After a few turns and sudden stops, she was able to unlock it, throwing the door wide open. She made to exit at a run, but she had barely gone five steps before dizziness overtook her. She stumbled, pressing a hand against a nearby wall for support and breathing heavily. " _This is a pathetic state I'm in_ ," she thought, angry with herself.

"Chosen Undead," Oscar said with concern as he exited the cell, Logan right behind you. "You should let one of us take the lead."

"I hope you're not volunteering me," Logan said briskly. "Or must I remind you that I lack armor? You seem far more well equipped in that regard." Fare paused and thought. It would probably be for the best to let Oscar take the lead. After all, he was a trained knight and like Logan had said, had armor. Most importantly, he was Undead. If he died, he could come back.

"Why yes, I am far better equipped," Oscar said. "And no, I was not volunteering you. You have not yet proven yourself worthy of the honor of-YOU SHAMELESS COWARDS!." Fare's head jerked up from where she was resting. For the first time, she got a good look at the room that they were in. They were at the bottom of what looked like a giant pit that had been dug in the middle of the Duke's Archives. The familiar combination of stone and wooden bookshelves was all around them, but here and there the bookshelves parted to reveal more cells. She caught glimpses of what was inside of them. Large, pale blue creatures that she didn't recognize, all of them idly shifting about. None of this had been what attracted Oscar's attention however.

A ramp was the only way that led out of the pit, one that circled about the pit at stopped at a ladder. Said ladder was now being pulled up onto a balcony that overlooked the pit. Three serpent men were standing in the balcony, two of them lifting up the ladder out of reach while the third one was watching them. Narrow slanted eyes that were fixed directly on Fare, Oscar and Logan.

"Afraid to fight!?" Oscar called out. "You should be! We've fought entire hordes of your kind and won! The second we find a way out, your lives are forfeit!" Fare earned her neck up, trying to get a good look at the balcony. She doubted that she could toss flames up there in her current state, but maybe Logan could hit them with his sorceries. She considered asking, when the ladder reached the very top and the leader serpent made an order. It never took its eyes off of them, watching them with that piercing gaze, as it gestured to the others. They ran out of sight, doing something that Fare could not see.

Whatever it was, its effect could be felt at once. A noise like Fare had never heard before filled the room. At its base form it sounded like ringing, but it was a very demented form of ringing. It echoed throughout the room, its pitch slowly climbing and descending, changing direction without warning. All three of them slowly backed away from the balcony, all of them looking around. "What in Gwyn's name that?" Oscar whispered.

"I don't know," Logan answered. "It must be some machination of Seath's, but further than-look!" He pointed his staff towards the cells on the far end of the wall. The doors were slowly sliding open, and their occupants were beginning to slither out. Now that she could get a better look at them, Fare realized that from the torso down they had the bodies of snakes. Their heads were covered by large pale caps that stretched down into around a dozen tentacles on each one. Whatever the ringing was, it was agitating them. Moments ago they were docile, but now they were twitching uncontrollably, slithering towards the three of them. Well over a dozen.

"Piscas," Logan hissed. "They were in the journal, but just the name and a sketch. The rest of the page was singed. Whatever they are, Seath must have created them." The forward most Pisca raised its head, revealing an oval shaped mouth lined with sharp teeth under the cap, and spat a glob of clear liquid. Oscar jumped back just in time to avoid being hit, and the liquid hit the stone floor instead, which instantly began to hiss and smoke.

"If we get killed here they'll be able to swarm the Bonfire, killing us the moment we revive," Oscar said, darting forward and slashing at the head Pisca before jumping back. He left little more than a shallow gash, having moved back before he could be exposed to a counter-attack, but bright red blood was still dripping out. "We have to stand our ground. Otherwise we'll be forced through that agony until we become Hollows."

"You will. I will simply be dead," Logan said dryly. Raising his staff, it shimmered for a few seconds before a blindingly bright and massive blob of bright blue energy shot out of it, soaring through the air. It found its mark and obliterated the Pisca Oscar had wounded, consuming it. The blob flashed brightly, forcing Fare to close her eyes, and when she opened them again, the Pisca was crumpled on the ground, its head missing.

"I am not particularly skilled in a melee, but my sorceries should be of fair use," he said, raising his staff again. "I would appreciate it if you two could act as a buffer. You both seem more skilled in swordplay than I. A rather uncouth skill, but a useful one."

Fare felt the urge to hit Logan with the pommel of her sword, something Oscar seemed to share with her. "Oh, fear not. The terrifying savages will protect the learned man from the terror of sullying his hands." Despite the bitterness in his voice, he was running to put himself between Logan and the Piscas, something Fare copied. The pair of them raised their shields, swords at the ready, as Logan sent another massive sphere at the horde, killing a second one. No sooner had he done that then the head of the horde was upon them.

Three of them were at the head of the throng, their tentacles lashing out as they tried to reach Logan, only to be stopped by Oscar and Fare. A tentacle impacted solidly on Fare's shield and she felt a sickening lurch. Her muscles screamed in agony as they desperately tried to keep the shield up. It was at this point that she realized just how heavy they the shield felt, how very heavy her entire body felt, how ever movement took a great effort. She glanced quickly to the side and saw Oscar withstanding similar blows, barely moving and holding his ground." _Stay standing,"_ she thought to herself. " _Whatever happens, stay on your feet."_

She brought her sword up, trying to take off the head of the Pisca closest to her. Instead, her furysword only managed to bury itself a few inches in the creature's throat. The flames of the sword turned its blue flesh into pitch charcoal black, but the wound was not severe enough to kill the creature. Rearing back in pain, the blue abomination raised its head and let out a screechy roar before diving back down, jaw wide open. Fare's shield stopped it, but this time the blow was enough to knock her off of her feet.

She thought she could hear Oscar calling her name but she wasn't certain. Everything seemed muffled as she hit the ground, her head reeling from the landing. The Pisca was on her in a second, its open maw reaching down and closing around her shoulder. She let out a cry of agony as dozens of razor sharp teeth dug into her. As the pain ripped through her, for a second she forgot about how weak and tired she felt. The grip on her sword tightened. Raising it, she drove the point of it into the open wound in the Pisca's throat.

It pulled back, its mouth opened widely as it screeched in pain. Blood was dripping from its jaw, but whether it was its own blood or Fare's blood, she couldn't tell. It didn't matter, for no sooner had the Pisca begun its roar than the noise had weakened. Then the creature went limp, slowly falling to the side.

Fare sucked in air as she tried to get her bearings. As she lay on the ground, she realized that her new perspective gave her a good view of the balcony where the serpent-men were still watching. The leader's eyes in particular were unwavering, looking directly at them. Loathing surged through her as her eyes connected with the leader's. Oscar was right, that thing truly was a coward. Fare continued to glare at the snake creature when something else caught her eye. There was an average sized double door gate behind the reptiles. Was it her imagination, or had it just moved?

"FARE! GET UP!" Fare was snapped out of her thoughts, and at just the right moment. Half a dozen tentacles descended on her, with her only able to block just before they had found their mark. Once again she was reminded of just how little strength she had, as she was barely able to keep her grip on the shield. The Pisca that the tentacles had belonged to was raising them up again when suddenly it stopped. Oscar had darted in from the side and thrust upward, his sword tunneling up to the hilt in the head of the bizarre creature.

Pulling his sword out and not paying any attention to the dying experiment, Oscar turned and reached out with his shield arm. Taking it, Fare was pulled to her feet, shield and sword still in hand. Another spell from Logan claimed a third hostile life, but the swarm was still making its way forward. To further complicate matters, a few more were still crawling out of their cell.

"Move backwards!" Logan commanded, his staff still raised. "A tactical withdrawal. Fight as you retreat." Fare could easily see why. The rest of the swarm was closing in on them, and if she and Oscar kept fighting from their current spot, they would eventually be overwhelmed. She had just begun, having taken no more than three steps back, when another splash of pure liquid landed where she had just been, the ground in front of her slowly burning.

Losing her grip on her shield, Fare formed a fireball and tossed it at the middle of the crowd. It was a wasted effort however, the fire was weak and flickering, and as it landed it did little more than superficial damage, leaving only light burns. To her side, Oscar's sword was a blur. One of the Piscas has charged forward, attempting to bite his head off, and he was stabbing at every part of the monster's face that he could reach. Shoulder still burning in agony from the bite, Fare just barely managed to block another tentacle strike from the throng, managing to sever the thin appendage with a quick stroke.

Fare's eyes were fixed on the owner of the now severed tentacle, waiting to see how it would react, when a shattering of wood filled the room. It was quickly replaced by the sound of sword on sword, followed by a very loud and wet splat. A quick glance revealed the source of the former. The leader of the snake men, bleeding from its neck and having fallen from the balcony into the pit. She looked upward and saw the other two serpents falling to join their leader and the ladder being lowered back down by two people. One of them with very unmistakable blue hair.

"Over here!" Lucina cried as she and Cordelia lowered the ladder. Fare couldn't help but gape. How in the world had Lucina found them? It was hard to tell from this distance, but Lucina looked just as surprised as she felt.

"Go!" Oscar shouted, stepping forward and stopping a Pisca from lunging at her, taking its head off with a swipe. Fare felt the urge to protest, not wanting to run while Oscar was still fighting. However, another pang of exhaustion washed over her, and she knew that staying would be an exercise in futility. Besides, Oscar was Undead, just like she was. He could survive. He WOULD survive.

"You heard him. Up we go!" Logan barked. At this point, Fare realized just how far the three of them had been driven back, they were almost up against the wall that the ladder was now lying against. Logan gestured to the ladder and Fare began to climb up, sheathing her sword and shield just before she started. It should have been an easy climb, but the curse had made this simply task into a trial. Her arms were screaming in protest, wanting nothing more than to let go and rest. Every rung was a challenge, she was terrified that her strength would fail her at any second and that she would soon be falling back into the put.

Somehow though, she found herself at the top. A pair of hands shot out and pulled her over. Fare didn't even try to right herself as she was yanked forward, letting herself fall to the ground with a clatter. She couldn't help but realize how wonderful it was to not support her weight, to be lying flat on her stomach. She permitted herself a few blissful seconds of rest before she slowly pushed herself up. Logan was leaping over the edge of the balcony, and after a few sounds of cutting flesh, Oscar was right behind him.

Fare managed to get herself into a sitting position, resting her back against the balcony. She took who was standing in front of her, and felt a warm sense of familiarity as she saw Lucina, Aversa, Sumia and Cordelia all looking at them with concern. "Oh, you went and made a new friend," Aversa said, looking at Logan with a sly smile on her face. "Very sweet of you two. But is there any reason that you're still in the castle? I mean he isn't half bad looking, maybe he caught Fare's eye. Her loyal servant certainly would bring his Lord whatever she desired."

Fare's mind drifted to thinking about Logan in that manner, and a familiar pang of nausea struck her. She couldn't help but wonder exactly why people focused on such lewd matters. What was so appealing about it? "Seath's sorceries," Oscar said through grit teeth, obviously looking at Lucina and not Aversa. "He made it so that we would be reborn here, a place under his guard."

Lucina gapped at them. "Damn it," she swore. "We thought you two were back in Anor Londo! We followed that alarm because we thought the others were here." Sure enough, the strange, inconsistent noise was still blaring. Now that she was up on the balcony, Fare saw that it was coming from a rather odd looking instrument, one snapped like a giant cone. Aversa stepped forward, her smile gone, and sent a wave of black energy at it. It snapped in half, toppling over the edge, and the noise vanished.

"Seath," Fare rasped. "What happened to Seath?" When the dragon's breath had consumed her, they had yet to find a way to truly hurt him. Her heart leapt with a faint hope. Had Lucina managed to find a way to do it? Had they found a way around Seath's crystal?

"He just stopped in the middle of the fight," Cordelia said, sounding concerned. "He smashed a hole in the ceiling. He said something about 'get away form it.' We're trying to track down Chrom and Robin's group before he finds them.

"Oh," Logan said. "You said you have other friends searching the Archives? And that Seath said, 'Get away from it.' Well. They're dead."

"What do you know?" Cordelia snapped, glaring at Logan. "You have no idea what they're capable of! What any of them are capable of!"

Logan simply shrugged. "I'm a realist. Whoever these people are, I doubt that they know the source of Seath's immortality. Most likely they stumbled onto his cavern by accident. If you want to kill Seath, you need to destroy the crystal that heals his body. Judging by the way that Seath apparently acted, he felt that it was threatened, and he is defending it from intruders. It is possible that they have already passed on."

"Wait, what was that about a crystal?" Sumia asked, sounding confused. "And how did you get here? Who's he?" she pointed at Logan

Fare felt a pulse of anger. They didn't have time for this, everyone was bickering while Seath could be tearing Chrom, Robin and Solaire limb from limb. All the voices speaking at once caused her head to throb. "Seath has a crystal that made to mimic the stone scales of the Eternal Dragons. He keeps it in his cavern and as long as it exists he can't be killed. The others most likely stumbled upon it, which is why he left the fight. He put up an enchantment so that all Undead he killed would be trapped in a cell down there, and this is Big Hat Logan a famous sorcerer." She tried her best to keep the venom out of her voice, but judging by the offended look on Sumia and Cordelia's faces, she had failed.

With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet. "And we need to move fast, otherwise they'll all be dead."

"They're most likely-" Logan began.

"No! No they aren't!" Lucina said, looking back and forth between Fare and Oscar, understanding in her eyes. "Fare said when Seath kills an Undead they get trapped down there. If Seath had already won, then Solaire would've been with you three. They must still be fighting!" She sheathed Falchion. "We need to get outside! If they're in a dragon's cave we can fly there!"

Fare wanted to sigh in relief. Finally, someone understood. She felt a moment of satisfaction, but it was brief. It slowly slid away, to be replaced by shame. The others had had no idea what had happened, they had not been locked in a cell with Logan to explain it all to them. Of course they weren't going to understand everything right away. She lowered her head, not making eye-contact with any of her rescuers, and began to walk forward. She only made it a few steps before a wave of fatigue washed over her again, and her legs buckled.

She stumbled forward and was a few seconds away from crashing into the ground when a pair of hands caught her. "Are you all right?" Weakly raising her head, she saw that Lucina had been the one to catch her, concern etched on her face. Their faces were only a few inches apart, and from this close distance Fare noticed something she had not noticed about Lucina before. Her left eye was very strange, as if an odd symbol had been carved into it. It looked like tear drop being held by a bowl that curved upward.

"Seath cursed her," Logan said simply. "She's in no condition to fight."

"I'm fine," Fare said. She had intended for her voice to be deep and strong, to emphasize her point, but instead it came out as weak and raspy. It didn't matter. Coming back was even harder if you died when Hollow, but none of that mattered. Frustrations aside, these people had all just saved her, Oscar and Logan from the Piscas. She wasn't going to repay them by letting them fight Seath without her, when she was the one who could come back from death.

"Are you certain?" Lucina asked. Her eyes were boring into Fare's, and Fare could tell that she was checking for signs of deception. Fare nodded, not breaking eye contact. She felt miserable and nowhere near her full potential. But she could still fight, even if it was only a little. "All right," Lucina said, sounding uncertain but not pursing the matter further. "Everyone follow me! We need to get back to the ramparts. Oh, and before we go, I learned one thing about Seath. He's blind. He attacked us based on sound, not sight."

Oscar swore. "I shouted right before he killed me," he said. "So that was it." Barely visible under the brim of his hat, Logan blinked. Reaching up, he began to softly scratch his skin, his expression thoughtful. "We'll find a way to use it against him," Oscar said. "Perhaps if we make enough of a racket he'll be confused. But there's no time for that now. The Chosen Undead has spoken, we must act now."

The assembled crowd began to rush back through the gate that had been broken down and up some nearby stairs. Logan starred at Aversa as they both moved forward, focusing on her exposed assets. He had apparently not spotted her in the earlier argument "Cute hat sweetie," Aversa said in response, a smirk playing across her face. Logan grunted.

"So you're coming?" Fare asked Logan as they rounded a corner. Her stomach gave a very violent lurch as they cleared it and she was very glad that she had not eaten recently.

Logan shrugged. "We're all most likely going to die, but there is a slim chance that we can kill Seath, and it increases with numbers. No matter how slight. And now that I've broken out of his prison, he will most likely seek my death. Of course, I will run the second the situation proves to be helpless." Reaching into his robes, he produced a pure white bone. "I trust you're familiar with homeward bones?" Fare nodded. Snap a homeward bone and you return to the last Bonfire you rested at. That would put Logan back in the cell, but he clearly found that preferable to Seath's den.

The trip to the ramparts was much longer than Fare remembered the journey in being. Just when she felt like they were getting close, they had to round another corner, or climb another staircase. Her head was getting rather light, and she kept half wishing that she had hung back. That she had found another Bonfire and gone back to Anor Londo, or Firelink Shrine. Anywhere that wasn't here. Just when she thought that her legs would give out again, they finally reached their destination. The three Pegasus were all where they had left them, pawing the ground nervously.

"What the-" Logan said as he spotted them. "Winged horses?"

"Yes indeed," Aversa said brightly. "Sorry to say that Cordelia and Sumia's can only handle two people. Mine is a little stronger however, and has a little bit of magic in her. She can handle three, but no more. Hatty, if you want to come along, you're going to have to ride with Oscar and I." Once again, Logan grunted.

Fare averted her eyes as they approached the horses. She didn't need to see how Oscar was reacting to this news, which would most likely leave him crammed against Aversa. She vaulted herself over Cordelia's mount, having attempt it twice and nearly falling off the second time, before gripping firmly. "Are you sure you're up to this?" Cordelia asked as she elegantly slid on, looking back at Fare. "If you slip while I'm flying, you won't survive."

Unwillingly, Fare found herself picturing falling through the sky before her body shattered on the cold, hard stone of the Duke's Archives. She shook those thoughts off. "I'm not leaving," she said stubbornly. " _If I somehow don't die during this fight, then it's proof that I really am Gwyn's chosen,"_ she thought wryly to herself. "Please, just take off now."

Cordelia blinked. "But where am I going? Where's Seath's cavern?"

Fare wanted to hit herself. All that and she hadn't even bothered to get directions to where they were going? Was she stupid? "LOGAN!" she called out. "Where is-"

"Far side of the Archives, tucked into the mountain. There's a garden in front of it," Logan replied. No other words were said or needed. Cordelia gave her Pegasus a gentle nudge and its wings spread. Fare was hit by another episode of nausea and wrapped her arms around Cordelia's waist, hanging on as tight as she could. She had thought that the first time she had flown was bad, but with the curse it was a thousand times worse. Every time the Pegasus flapped its wings she thought that she was going to be unseated, that it was more than her brittle grip could handle.

As a gust of wind nearly buffeted her off, despite Cordelia treating it like a light breeze, she remembered something. _"It allows me to utilize my inner strength. It forces my body to act beyond its boundaries, in all areas._ " Power Within. The pyromancy that she had recently discovered. She had not tested it, but it could possibly allow to her overcome her current limitations. A small part of her was concerned about the consequences, but she ignored it. She had no time.

Taking one hand away from Cordelia, she held her palm in front of her face. Slowly, willing it into reality, she watched as an orb of hot, white smoke formed in the very center. She took a second to observe it, the smoke whirling about and trying to break out of the orb, before she took a deep breath and struck herself in the chest with it. No sooner had the smoke faded away inside her than a powerful warmth coursed through her body. It felt like she had dipped into a bath that was just a little too hot. It was harder to breath now, but the symptoms of the curse had lessened. She could fight now, at least in some capacity.

"Fare, what was that?" Cordelia asked, concern in her voice. She had not taken her eyes away from the front as her Pegasus dipped downward, behind the walls of the Duke's Archives. At once, Fare spotted Seath's cavern. It was impossible to be mistaken for anything else, a wide gaping made out of the same crystals that had been consuming the dragon's body. "Are you ok?"

"I tried something rather reckless," Fare said, struggling to breath. She had not exerted herself but her heart was hammering in her chest. It pounded so frequently and hard that she was worried that it would burst. "I think I can fight now."

Even from behind her, Fare could see a slight movement on the side of Cordelia's face. She was smiling. "I'm not surprised," she said. She grabbed a lance that had been holstered in the saddle of her Pegasus. A bright, silver lance Fare momentarily wondered why she had not brought it with her into the Archives, then remembered lances were nearly always used while mounted. It was spears that were used on foot. "I always seem to meet people like you. People who always find a way."

Fare felt herself flush, and muttered a small thanks. After that, the cave was upon them, and all three mounts dove through the opening. A roar echoed as they all came to a stop, hovering on the spot. It was a roar that most certainly did not belong to a human, and came from deep below them. "Down girl!" Cordelia commanded, giving a small tug on the reigns.

Fare didn't know if it was the pull or if the Pegasus was smart enough to understand, but folded up its wings and dove downward. Fare felt the force of gravity pressing against her, nearly unseating her and forcing her to double her grip on Cordelia. Cordelia let out a small gasp of pain and Fare blinked. She hadn't gripped Cordelia any harder than before, or at least she hadn't meant to. Was this the effect Power Within had on her? "Sorry," she whispered.

"Just pinched me a little," Cordelia said, attempting to sound cheerful but wincing as she spoke. Another bellow that Fare knew came from Seath, she spotted an opening near the bottom of the chasm they had been diving down. Another tug from Cordelia and the Pegasus's wings opened wide, flapping and slowing their descent. A quick looked up confirmed to Fare that the others had done the same thing, Logan clamping a hand down over his hat to keep it from being blown off.

Spurring her mount on with a firm nudge, Cordelia and Fare flew through the mouth of the opening and into the cavern within. Fare blinked as she tried to take everything on. Seath, only a few feet below them, was breathing the same mist that had given Fare her curse. The second group was scattering, desperately trying to avoid the sparkling mist. Fare could've sworn that the group was one person too big, but she had to stay focused. She took one hand off of Cordelia and drew her furysword and began to scan the room. The crystal keeping Seath alive was somewhere in here.

Seath's head tilted upward, his head tilting. "Flapping. Too large to be a bird, yet fare too small to be one of my kind." He let out a snarl of frustration. "What is it? What trick are you playing on me?" Fare remembered what Lucina had said. Seath was blind, he acted based on sound, not movement. He would have had countless years to learn the sounds of the world, from deafening bellows to tiny pinpricks. However, things were different here. Pegasus didn't exist in Lordran, nor the rest of this world. Seath couldn't identify the sound of something utterly unfamiliar with him.

Fare ignored him. Her eyes were darting all over the room, taking in the various crystals that were jutting out of every surface. She had to fine the one that matched the sketch that Logan had shown here. The one above them was too fat, the one below them had too many edges, the one to the side was a sphere. The one at the very far end of the cavern was think and precariously balanced. It was the one they were looking for. "There," she whispered into Cordelia's ear, pointing past her at the crystal. "Get me close."

Instead of a spoken response, Cordelia urged her Pegasus forward and it sped across the room. Seath swiped at the sound of the flapping, but the Pegasus was already well at out reach. Seath snarled in frustration and confusion. The next thing Fare knew, Cordelia had landed and Fare was on the ground, her sword over her head. She brought it brought down.

The crystal proved to be as fragile as it looked, and it snapped in half under the force of the blow, a few smaller chunks flying off. Time seemed to stop in the cavern as all heads turned to look at her. Confusion coated every uncovered face except for one. Seath's dead eyes were fixed on her, unblinking and unseeing. There was pure hatred carved into every last inch of his face.

Time began to flow again when Seath's jaws open wide and he let out a roar. The loudest roar Fare had ever heard, one so loud that some of the smaller crystals were dislodged from the ceiling and broke on the ground below. A roar that mixed despair, disbelief and anger. One that promised nothing but pain and suffering to those who had wronged who uttered the roar. It told Fare that she had done one of the most dangerous things a person could ever do. She had made herself the target of a dragon's rage.

"Come on!" Cordelia shouted, gesturing for Fare to remount. Seath continued to roar in agony and rage as he half flew, half dragged himself across the cavern, heading straight for them. Fare glanced at Cordelia. She had done much to help ensure Seath's defeat by bringing her this far. She had done her part. Seath's anger was focused on her, there was no reason for another to share it with her.

"I'm staying down here, attack him from above!" Taking her shield in her left hand, Fare charged forward to meet Seath. A loud flap from behind her told her that Cordelia had taken flight again, much to her relief. Hopefully she would be able to move faster with a lighter load. Not paying attention to where she was going and only barely spotting a few others moving to attack Seath, she pressed on towards his deformed torso. If the crystal spilling out of him was anything like the one she had just snapped, she should be able to make some headway against him.

She was never able to find out, for before she was even halfway there, Seath lunged. One of his claws came down, aiming to take her head off. She just barely ducked under it in time, slicing at it as she did so. To her great surprise, one of the talons clattered to the ground, even though she had felt barely any resistance during the swing. The other claw was upon her, and this time Fare swung with all of her strength long before it reached her. The palm was split wide open, sinew and tendons spilled onto the grounds. Fare watched in amazement, seeing the results of Power Within. Tearing through Seath had taken so little effort that her furysword was still moving at top speed as it traveled downward and into the ground.

A deafening snap filled her ears an an excruciating pain coursed through her. It occurred the second that the furysword hid the ground. Fare cried out in pain, dropping her sword and looking down at the origin of her agony. Her wrist was bent at entirely the wrong angle, jutting out awkwardly. All from the impact of her sword hitting the ground. "FARE!" a voice cried in terror, "ABOVE YOU!"

Fare looked up, but it was too late. Seath's first claw was upon her again, and this time it found its mark. It grabbed her, talons digging into her skin and its tight grip crushing her as it pulled her upward. It stopped directly in front of Seath's face. His eyes, despite seeing nothing, were fixed directly on where he knew she was. "Do you have any idea what you've done!?" Seath bellowed. He was so close that his voice rattled Fare's bones. "You miserable little rat? You pathetic and insignificant vermin? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?"

Once again the dragon's talons pierced her armor and tunneled into her flesh. Fare knew that within seconds Seath would crush her and that she would be forced to crawl through that labyrinth of pain again. Yet for some reason, through that knowledge and the pain, she felt satisfaction. Seeing the smug Seath reduced to such anger lifted her spirits, if only a little. Her mouth slid open, a trickle of blood spilling out, and croaked an answer to Seath's question. "I killed you."

Teeth baring in rage, Seath tightened his grip. The pressure around Fare doubled, and within seconds there was the unmistakable feeling of no less than three of her ribs snapping, causing unbearable pain to course through her. "Leave her alone!" A lance drove itself deep into Seath's right eye. A bright silver lance. A howl of rage was ripped from Seath's jaws, and in his anger, he dropped Fare.

Fare had just enough time to spot Cordelia's long red flowing hair as she sped by before she began to fall. Her gaze snapped down to the ground, which was speeding up to meet her. Her eyes snapped shut, bracing for the impact. It came, but it was nowhere near as hard as she had expected. Instead of bone shattering landing she had been expecting, she instead felt a hard but much more bearable impact on something much softer.

"Are you ok?" Hey eyes snapped open to see a very familiar helmet with a bright red feather protruding out of the top. Fare let out a sigh of relief. It felt right to have Solaire back at her side. With him, even killing a dragon seemed like a doable asked. Gently, he lowered her feet first to the ground.

"My arm is broken," she said, wincing as she put weight on her feet and unintentionally shifted her arm. "It's nothing though. I just need my Estus." She chose to leave out the part about being cursed. She could still fight despite that, there was no need to worry Solaire with something that couldn't be changed.

"Hold on, allow me," Solaire said. In a flash, his talisman was in his hand, and with a wave and a flash of golden light, the pain was gone in Fare's arm. She could feel the bone setting itself back into place and knitting. She flexed it, feeling satisfied when it moves without pain or obstruction. "What was it you just did? It…his wounds." Solaire's gaze had been drawn to Seath's eye, the one Cordelia had stabbed. It had not healed and was still bleeding openly. Solaire let out a hearty laugh. "Fare, you just might have saved us all from the maws of death!" Raising his talisman above his head, a bolt of lightning materialized out of it and into his grip. Crackling and sparking with barely contained energy, Solaire threw it like a spear.

Seath had been swiping at Cordelia with his claws when it hit, the energy disappearing into the flesh of his neck and blackening it. Seething with anger, Seath's jaws opened wide as he inhaled, no doubt to retaliate with his cursed breath, only to be interrupted by Sumia. No longer accompanied by Lucina, the brown haired woman had darted in, thrusting her own lance. She had been aiming for Seath's head, but the dragon had leaned back as he inhaled, and instead her spear ripped through his snout, tearing it clean off.

"Wow! I did that!?" Sumia shouted, sounding both surprised and pleased as she sped away. Seath's head twisted and turned, trying to take in all of the noises around him.

"What is this? Humans? Flying? No, it's too heavy. Did you breed with horses? How? HOW!?" he screeched, snapping his jaw at Sumia, just barely missing.

By this point, the ground assault against him had redoubled. Oscar had opened a gash in Seath's side, which had prompted the nearest tail to swing in his direction. "Look out!" A woman in pale armor and a helmet that looked oddly like an onion had noticed before Oscar did, and leapt between him and the attack. The armor looked incredibly familiar, but with the battle raging around her, Fare couldn't place it. She did not raise her shield, instead taking he bastard sword in both hands and meeting Seath's blow with a blow of her own. Tail met sword.

The knightess' bastard sword cut deep, aided by the fact that Seath had unintentionally forced his tail into the edge of a sharp blade. In the end however, the sword was forced back and the tail slammed into the knightess. She was sent flying, smashing into a particularly jagged set of crystals with a painful cry.

Oscar moved in a slow sluggish manner, clearly confused by what had just happened, until he spotted the knightess shuddering in pain as she attempted to stand up. Seath's tail twitched weakly, knightess' desperate gamble having cut three quarters of the way through it, something Oscar noticed. Letting out a cry of anger, he leapt upon the tail. His strikes were brutal, imprecise and wild, hacking away at the tail until, eventually, he finished what she had started.

Seath lurched forward as he did. At first Fare thought he was moving to attack Oscar, but then he reached out with his wounded craw and grabbed a nearby wall, stopping his forward movement. He had been falling over. Snarling, he furiously flapped his wings, pushing himself back. He eventually regained his balance, noticeably leaning back much more than he had been before. With a jolt, Fare realized that Seath was leaning on his two remaining tails.

"Lucina, Chrom those tails are what's keeping him upright! With me!" Robin commanded. "Aversa!" she said, her head stretching upward. "Cover us!" Fare looked up herself for a moment, only to find Robin looked at her when she looked down. "You too. Any ranged attacks we can get." With that, Robin was off, her husband and daughter on either side of her. Both of them were wielding Falchion.

Fare blinked. This fight was such a chaotic mess that she couldn't say where they had come from. She had a hard time just knowing where everyone was. For the first time since she had arrived in the cavern, she took in where everyone was. Lissa was bending over the knightess, a soft light emanating from her staff. Tiki was hovering over both of them, her teeth bared, but not openly attacking Seath. Apparently she didn't want to attract Seath's attention while the woman with the onion helmet was still wounded.

All three flyers were circling Seath. Sumia and Cordelia were darting in and stabbing at Seath's face whenever there was an opening. Aversa was keeping her distance, using her sorcery to send dark spells at the dragon's chest. To Fare's surprise, Logan was still on her Pegasus, adding his own dazzlingly bright sorceries to the assault.

"You two, Stay behind me." Fare blinked. Tarkus was in front of them, his shield up. "Pyromancy and Miracles are what we now. I'll keep you unharmed."

Fare grit her teeth in frustration. Power Within was acting as a temporary solution for her physical weakness, but that didn't change the fact that the curse was affecting her Pyromancy. "There's a curse on me," she said, feeling reluctant to admit it. "I can't do what I normally can. Only weak-" she was silenced as Solaire put up one of his hands.

"Worry not," he said. "We are merely the diversion. We are not attempting to kill Seath, merely turn his attention away from the true strike. His time his short, even if he does not know it." With that, he sent another spear of lightning forwards Seath. Feeling a small surge of confidence from Solaire's words, sheathed her sword sent the strongest blast of fire that she could. It turned out to be a frail sphere of flame, but it lasted long enough to lick at Seath's torso, while Solaire's spear did the same.

Seath's attention had momentarily been drawn to the royal family moving towards his tails, but it was pulled away as the spells hit him. "Pests!" he hissed, lashing out with his unwounded claw. True to his word, Tarkus stood between the two casters and the dragon. His half giant strength held, and the claws bounced off of solid iron.

Seath retracted his claw for another attack, only to have to lower it to avoid it being skewered. Cordelia had lunged for it, trying to take it off at the wrist. Seath, however, seemed to have learned the sounds a Pegasus made when it was speeding up for an attack. "Do not interfere!" Seath bellowed, striking out at Cordelia with the same claw Tarkus had blocked moments ago. It found its mark. A horrific tearing noise filled the room. A loud, gut clenching, very wet tearing noise.

Fare's eyes widened as saw Seath's claw press against the wall of the cave, blood gushing from underneath, Cordelia just barely visible from the torso up. Slowly, Seath pulled away, and both Cordelia and the Pegasus fell. The Pegasus was barely visible as such, having taken the brunt of the blow, it now resembled a crimson ball of torn flesh that was falling to the ground. Cordelia was still recognizable, but that just made the damage that had been done even more unbearable to look at. Her legs were twisted and mangled, to the point where Fare had thought they might have been part of the horse for a second. They were soaked in blood, wide open gashes gushing like streams None of this, however, could compare with the very worst part of it. Cordelia wasn't moving as she fell.

There was a flapping of wings and Sumia sped underneath her, her Pegasus coming to a stop and hovering as she stretched out her arms, her lance tumbling to the ground. She caught Cordelia and gently gestured for her Pegasus to land. She looked down at the woman in her arms, eyes half open and only barely breathing, as she landed. Tears began to flow freely down her face.

Without a word, Solaire broke into a run, heading towards her, Talisman in hand. Lissa did the same, shooting an apologetic look at the knightess as she did, only for her to cry "Just go!" It was a command that Lissa obeyed. Seath said nothing, but his jaw twisted in satisfaction. Fare had felt numb and empty ever since she had seen Cordelia crushed against the wall. Now the emptiness was filled with something. Hatred.

Seath's jaws opened wide. Whether it was for his breath or if he intended to use his teeth, Fare never found out. Instead, Seath let out a cry of pain and turned his attention to one of his tails. The royal family had reached it, naked blades swinging. The twin Falchions were already biting at one of the remaining tails, and with their coordinated strikes they made quick work of it, the finishing blow being struck by Robin. With only one tell left supporting him, Seath stumbled forward again. He attempted to grab a nearby crystal formation as he fell, only for it to shatter under his full bulk. He landed, with a deafening crash, face first on the ground in front of Fare. Slowly, the albino dragon lifted its head up. He was seething.

"I SHOULD HAVE LET MY KIND DEVOUR YOU!" Seath roared, desperation slowly overriding the anger in his voice. He pressed his claws against the ground as he tried to push himself up, only to collapse when he attempted to put weight on his injuries. "WE WERE GODS COMPARED TO YOUR LORDS, AND BEYOND THE COMPREHENSION OF MERE HUMANS! ALL THAT TIME I SPENT WORKING WITH YOU! I COULD HAVE-" those were the last words Seath ever muttered. Tarkus' sword came whistling down upon Seath's face, and Tarkus had put all of his strength into the swing.

The blow bisected Seath's entire head vertically. It was a very brutal and unclean cut, but it was the result of one swing and had traveled the entire way through. The last of Seath's emotions were still etched on his face. Rage and panic. Tarkus panted heavily, looking down at the ruins of Seath's body, blood gently oozing out.

"Cordelia!" Robin, Lucina and Chrom were heading back towards Fare, Chrom at the head of the throng. "Is she ok?" Fare tried to speak, but her voice didn't seem to be working properly. All she could do was gape him. The only other thought in her made was her anger towards Seath. It had started small, but it was slowly growing. The smug satisfaction on the dragon's face when he had maimed Cordelia was still fresh in her mind.

"We need to get her out of here!" Lissa's cry managed to piece the fog that was consuming Fare's mind, enough for her to turn her attention to Cordelia. Solaire was still crouched over her, golden light pouring from her talisman, while Lissa was looking pleadingly at everyone else. "We've stopped the bleeding, "W-we saved her. She's not going to die. But…but." Lissa swallowed, her eyes shimmering with tears. "I'm…not sure if she'll ever be able to walk again. M-magic can only do so much. E-even if she does it'll be years."

Fare's insides went cold. She knew she hadn't misheard Lissa, she couldn't remember the last time her senses were this sharp. Cordelia. Bedridden. For the rest of her life. Would Cordelia be able to live her life like this? At that point, a horrible realization hid Fare. She had no idea. Now that she thought about it, she barely knew Cordelia. All she knew was that she was a skilled fighter. What did she do off of the battlefield? Did she have a family? Did she truly believe this mission was wise? Fare had no idea. Cordelia was a stranger to her. A stranger who had let herself be maimed fighting a dragon that wasn't her enemy, but someone other's

Lissa was momentarily overcome by a fit of sobbing, only for her to force herself to keep talking. "But s-she's in bad shape," she stuttered, her face now soaked. "She needs to get back to the castle, we can take better care of her there. H-how are we supposed to get her up that path? We can't take a Pegasus, it would-"

"Here!" Logan had jumped off of Aversa's Pegasus while it was still a few feet off the ground. Rather aggressively, he shoved the homeward bone he had displayed earlier into her hands. "Use this!" Lissa looked down, blinking in confusion, before looking back up at Logan. Utterly lost. "Gah!" Logan spat in frustration. "Are you stupid? It's a homeward bone! It's very simple to-" he never got to finish his sentence. Solaire plucked the bone out of Lissa's hand, wrapped the hand holding it around Lissa's waist, and touched Cordelia's hand with his free hand. Squeezing hard, he shattered the bone in his hand. With a burst of ash, like it had been kicked up into the air, all three of them vanished.

Logan looked at where the three had just vanished as Aversa landed behind him, sliding off of her mount. "What was that?" she asked briskly.

"Forgive me," Logan said, his voice low and sincere. "I have had an education that very few can equal. Some matters that come easily to me are more difficult to others. I…forget that sometimes." He tilted his head down an inch, which was more than enough to cover his face completely.

Aversa let out a small sigh. "Well. I suppose I've done worse. And you did pull off that little trick. Nice job Hatty" Without warning, she pulled Aversa into a small hug. "Thank you." Logan stiffened in surprise, but didn't complain. As Aversa pulled away, Fare could see a small smile under his hat as he lifted his head up.

"It's a shame really," he said, walking towards the corpse of Seath. Grabbing one of the crystal shards on the torso, he snapped it off. Giving it a small flip, he studied it. "He was on the brink of eternal life." He held up the crystal, the brightly lit cavern causing it to shine brightly. His face now fully exposed, the longing in it was clear. "A brilliant mind, one that pushed the boundaries of sorcery. But it was gripped by insanity." He turned over the crystal again. "Oh the possibilities. The possibilities that are gone now." He paused, no longer focusing on the crystal, but looking past it. "Then again," he said, more softly. "His notes are still intact."

Fare was barely paying attention. Her eyes had locked onto the shattered head of Seath. His broken face still bore the fear of one who had realized their life was nearly over, as well as the anger of one who had been wrong. The hatred inside of her grew faster than ever. This traitor, who had stolen a piece of Gwyn's Lord Soul for his own selfish purposes, hiding away from the crumbling world who had needed him. Who had created twisted abominations to carry out his bidding. What right did he have to be angry, and what did he know about fear?

Fare lost control. Her furysword was in her hand. She couldn't remember how many times she drove it into the corpse of the dead dragon. How many times she ripped apart his dead flesh. How many times she longed for the fact that Seath was like her. Able to die over and over again so that she could inflict the agony that he deserved upon him.

"Fare," a sorrowful voice said. Her sword pulled out, Fare turned about, still livid with rage. Lucina was looking back at her. She wasn't crying, but that looked like it was taking her a great effort. Her back was stiff, she wasn't blinking, and there was a slight tremble in her lip. "Please. The Lord Soul."

The anger drained out of her. She had forgotten. She started to panic. Where was it? Then she spotted it, hovering over the center of Seath. Climbing up over the remains of a member of a now extinct species, Fare reached out for the Lord Soul. She felt a faint warm feeling in her chest. It was a feeling that happened so often she barely registered it, the sovereignless souls of the fallen filtering into her body. Whatever had been left of Seath's natural soul was currently seeping into her. It paled compared to the soul hovering in front of her.

The Lord Soul, despite being just a fragment, burned with the intensity as a Bonfire. A small comfort filled her as she cupped it in her hand, but only a small one. She looked down at the soul, larger than any soul she had ever seen before, and a blazing orange. If Frampt was right, this soul belonged in her hands. That did little to erase the memory of Cordelia's broken body from her hands.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Fun little fact, I had the finishing blow dealt to Seath mirrored after an imagined moment in Berserk, the moment where the origins of the hero's sword are being discussed. For those not familiar with Berserk, it actually plays a HUGE influence for Dark Souls and I'd recommend it if you've got the stomach for something that can be even darker than Game of Thrones at times. Even more gorey as well.

Also, just a reminder, I've set up a page with bonuses for Patrons. Nothing major will be behind a paywall. Every single dollar with help. Fans waiting for the next chapter of Crossed Blades, it will be ready in a few days.

Special thanks to my current Patron: SuperFeatherYoshi.


	9. Burning Sins

Chapter 9

Burning Sins

XXXXX

Lucina watched as Lissa poured over Cordelia. They were in the makeshift hospital that had been set up in one of the barracks in the castle at Ylisstol. Many of the beds were occupied by soldiers that had been maimed by the attack of the serpent-men. Thankfully all of them had stabilized long ago and were on the road to recovery. Aside from discomfort and pains from healing wounds, they were fine. Physically at least. At the moment, concerned lined most of their faces as they watched from their beds. Trying to get a good look at Cordelia. Trying to see if she was all right.

Lucina reached down and instinctively gripped the hilt of Falchion. She looked down at the sword. A habit that she had picked up from the future. A reminder of her father, and a guarantee of safety. Even now, the firm metal hilt wrapped in cloth still gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling. Right now, what she saw reminded her an awful lot of the future that she had escaped. One of the parents of her friend maimed. It wasn't fatal, but that was a small comfort.

"Lissa," she said softly stepping forward. "Back in the cavern, you were under a lot of stress. Is there any chance that you made a mistake?" She wasn't expecting her aunt to confirm this, but she couldn't help but hope. Sadly, that fragile hoped was dashed as Lissa turned and sadly shook her head.

"Healers learn how bad wounds are from a look," she said, "it's how we manage to act so fast. The damage to her legs was so severe that it affected every last part of them. If we didn't have healing magic she would've lost them. But even magic can only go so far." She let out a sigh, tears were forming in her eyes again.

Cordelia was asleep, a peaceful expression on her face. She had been removed from her armor and given clean, plain clothes. White sheets now covered her as her chest softly rose and fell. Blissfully unaware of what had happened to her. "When she wakes up, the world she lived in for years is going to be gone," Lissa said. Her voice was even thicker, and she sounded as if speaking took a great effort.

Lucina put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You said that she could potentially recover didn't you? This will be just like any other injury. It just needs time and care." Lucina knew that it was far from being that simple. It would be much longer and harder.

"I s-said maybe," Lissa said, a lone tear trickling down her face. "S-sometimes people have been able to recover from injuries like these. Other times they haven't. It's possible, but it might just not-" Lissa was cut off as Lucina spun her around and pulled her into a hug. "I just. I just," she blubbered.

"I know," Lucina said. "I've seen this happen to her before. She didn't make it that time. But this time is different. I know Cordelia. She's my best friend's mother. She's tough. She'll make it through this. This time next year, she'll be riding again like nothing happened." Lucina hoped that this was the case. Her father and all of the parents of her friends had died in the future that she had come from, that had included Cordelia. She had not seen Cordelia's death, no one had. She had gone out on a mission and never come back. She fought the urge to swallow.

Lissa was about to reply when there was a rustling of sheets behind her. Cordelia was stirring. At once, Lissa furiously began to rub her eyes on the sleeve to her dress, trying to rid herself of the tears. "Come on," she said in a frustrated manner, her voice low. She took a quick look in a nearby mirror and gave a slight moan. Her face was a little red and puffy, not instantly noticeable but not exactly invisible.

"Ugh," Cordelia moaned, gingerly rubbing her eyes. "What happened? Where am I?" Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. She looked around, her eyes half open as they adjusted to the light. "Lissa? Lucina?" A soft smile dawned on her face. "Did we win? Did we get the soul from Seath?"

"Yes," Lissa said slowly. "Listen, Cordelia, that dragon hit you pretty hard. You need to stay in bed, for some time. It's going to take awhile for your legs to heal properly." Lissa lowered her head an inch as she spoke. She was no longer meeting Cordelia's eye. Lucina noticed and felt a pang of panic. Her aunt had grown in the past few years, but she was still very young. Young enough to not be very good at hiding her emotions very well.

Sadly, Cordelia had spotted it as well. "Lissa? What's wrong?" she asked, trying to catch the eye of the princess. Lissa's grip tightened on her staff. Cordelia's eyes were as sharp as ever. "How," Cordelia swallowed, "how bad was it?" Tears began to stream down Lissa's face again, and barely audible apologizes began to tumble out of her mouth. "Lissa please," Cordelia said, who was starting to look quite scared. "Talk to me."

Lissa's teeth grit fiercely as she tried to stem the flow of tears. She had little success, and they continued to flow. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I tried. I tried as hard as I could." She finally looked up at Cordelia, her face now soaking wet. "I promise that we'll do everything we can but," she gave a wet sob, "the damage to your legs was severe, the internal damage in particular. At best, it'll take years before you can properly walk again."

With one swift movement, Cordelia ripped the blankets off of her. Her legs were bare, and on the surface they looked normal, if a bit unshaven. Swinging them off of the bed, Cordelia tried to put weight on them to stand up. "No, DON'T!" Lissa cried out, but it was too late. Cordelia's legs had only just begun to support her when she let out a cry of pain and tumbled forward. Lissa and Lucina darted forward and caught her just in time. "They can't handle the strain," Lissa said, her face now bright red as she and Lucina gently pushed Cordelia back into the bed. "We're going to try and have them slowly recover. Putting weight on them little by little. Hopefully you'll make a full recovery. But," she let out another sob, this one dryer, "there's always a chance that…"

"I understand, Cordelia said. For a moment, her face was rather sullen. She looked down at her legs with a long, unblinking stare. One of her hands crept forward and slowly dragged along on it, her gently brushing against the hair. Then, a smile crept across her face. "It's ok," she said, looking back at Lucina and Lissa. "If it's just a matter of working to get them back into shape, I can handle it. So, when do we start? In a few hours?"

"It's not that simple," Lissa said, looking down at Cordelia's legs in shame. "You need to stay in bed for some time with daily treatments. If you push yourself now, things could deteriorate quickly. You'd lose any chance at recovery."

"Ah," Cordelia said. Her smile faltered for a second but was back in seconds. "All right then. We'll just do it later." Cordelia was about to continue when the door to the barracks burst open. A man who looked as if he was getting on in years, with dull red hair and leather armor came storming into the room, a bundle of cloth in his hands.

"Is…love of life…all right?" he panted heavily, coming to a stop at the edge of the bed.

"Gregor?" Cordelia said in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you were still three days away? The fort you were stationed at isn't that close!"

"Gregor did not sleep," Gregor said, catching his breath rather quickly and standing up straight. "Horses needed to sleep, so Gregor kept buying new ones, selling sleepy old ones to farmers. Gregor was able to keep moving this way. Gregor was able to see lovely wife." He smiled sadly. "Gregor got letter about wife. How bad injuries are, and how long it will take her to recover."

He took a hand and put in on her shoulder. "Gregor will be there every step of the way. You be needing angry bear to pull Gregor away, and Gregor know how to fight bears." Cordelia nodded, her smiling fading away. Her hands tightened over her sheets as she looked down. Lucina couldn't see her face, but she could see pinpricks as tears hit the sheets.

"Thank you," she whispered. "It's just so scary Gregor. Yesterday I could walk, run and ride without any problem. But now I just-what happens if I can never do it again?"

"Then Gregor will walk, run and ride for you!" Gregor said determinedly. "Wife did much for Gregor, more than Gregor can ever repay. But he will try. And if wife is still not happy, Gregor will find Naga herself and demand that she fix legs."

Cordelia let out a soft, tinkling laugh. She rubbed her face as she looked up. "What's that there?" she asked.

"I brought you pick me up!" Gregor said happily, handing the bundle to Cordelia. She took it gently and let out a soft coo of affection. Lucina had had trouble making out what was in the bundle, but now she could make it out. A soft face of a baby, tuffs of red hair at the top of her head. "Little Severa misses mommy," Gregor said. "So I give her to mommy."

Cordelia smiled brightly, a smile that looked much more real than the one she had given to Lucina and Lissa. Slowly, the sleeping baby opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. Upon realizing who was holding her, she weakly reached out her arms, gurgling as she did. "Oh," Cordelia said, looking as if her heart was about to burst as she hugged the baby.

"Come on," Lucina said, giving her aunt's sleeve a pull. Lissa didn't argue and the two slowly crept out. Outside the barracks, they took a right turn down the hallway, and a few turns later found themselves facing an open room. Lucina had not been paying attention to where they were going, and as such was surprised to see her mother inside, along with Big Hat Logan. She realized that they were outside her mother's study, and somehow it had even more sprawling books in it than it normally did.

"Over there," Logan said, pointing to the only table in the room that wasn't covered with tomes, volumes and scrolls. Quite a feat, as there were easily a dozen desks in the room that had stacks that went well over Lucina's head. Solaire lumbered into view from within the study, a dozen leather bound books in his hands, dropping them on the table. His head was bare, his helmet perched precariously on top of a large stack of tomes towards the back of the room. "There. That should give us enough to start with," Logan said.

"We can't empty the entire Archives, that would take weeks," Solaire said dusting off his hands and looking at Logan was a hint of annoyance. "We should pick what helps us the most. We need information on Lost Izalith, the Tomb of the Giants and the Abyss."

Logan scoffed. "Izalith as we know it is gone, that's why we call it _Lost_ Izalith. There was no time to document it. And the Abyss?" He let out a short laugh. "It'd be easier to find a book on the first son of Gwyn than the Abyss. At least ones on the former existed at one point. No one other than Artorias ever survived in the Abyss, there's nothing to write. As for the Tomb of the Giants, I may be able to help you there, but in the meantime we need to pool the information that we can and make our own conclusions. The proper academic approach." He held him his hands. "I'm sure that you are quite a skilled warrior, but this is a field I specialize in, trust me."

Solaire looked at him for a few seconds before turning away. Robin was flat out glaring at him. "Ah! Lucina!" Solaire said, upon spotting Lucina in the doorway. "Is everything all right? I was just helping Logan move some of the research he found out of the Archives. It's still not safe there, Hollows and Seath's experiments are still swarming the place. He needed me to keep him safe."

Lucina couldn't help but notice the way Solaire said that. After the way Logan had just talked to him, she had half expected Solaire to put emphasis on how Logan had needed his protection. But he had said it so matter of factly. Deciding to let that insult die if Solaire wanted to, she asked "Who was Gwyn's first son?"

A scowl coated Logan's face. "A disgrace of a son," he said darkly. "Gwyn had three children. Gwyndolin was his youngest, born frail under the lights of the moon and raised as a daughter. His only daughter Gwynevere, the Queen of Sunlight, who rules Anor Londo in his stead. And his oldest, the disgraced god of war." Logan shook his head in disgust. "He did something to anger his father. Something so terrible that it was stripped from all records, along with everything related to the son, including his name. He was banished, and all the symbols of him were destroyed. He deserved it."

Solaire nodded sadly. "Unfortunately, he speaks the truth. There is nothing left of the first born son. Nothing except the knowledge that he fell."

Lucina nodded. Just when she thought she had learned everything she needed to know about Lordran's mythology, more aspects kept popping up. "So, I assume this means that we're heading for the Tomb of the Giants next? Gravelord Nito is the one who lives there right?"

"Correct," Logan said, picking up a leather-bound volume and flicking through it. "The most obscure of the Lords. Never had much to do with the others. Kept to himself mainly. But we'd have the most luck finding out more about him."

Lucina glanced at her mother, about to ask her a question, but she answered before Lucina could even ask. "He said he wanted to repay us for rescuing him," she said. "Also, he would be grateful for a safe spot to conduct his research. Without vile abominations attacking him. I think those were his words."

"Close enough," Logan said, continuing to peer over the volume. "Wait. Drat, wrong book. This is about the dragons. Unless you want to hear about the Archtrees beneath the surface of our world. The ones that the Everlasting Dragons nested in and held up the surface." Lucina had to admit that that actually sounded rather interesting, but Logan had already swapped out the volume for another

"According to this," he said, "Nito had a small but dedicated sect of followers, and he gifted them with the art of necromancy. A body given life by a necromancer can act on its own until it is damaged too badly, but even then a necromancer can repair the damage. Only a body struck down by a holy weapon may not rise again. Ah. It seems that you will be in your element sunlight warrior."

Solaire smiled. "It seems I will be. My sword is ordinary steel, but my miracles should be more than enough," he said.

"Anything else?" Lucina asked. She couldn't help but share the same concerns that her aunt had had when Nito was originally brought up. A necromancer in a place called the Tomb of the Giants. She couldn't help but picture an army of hundreds of decayed corpses, each one twice the size of Tarkus.

"Only that Nito hasn't been seen much since the fall of the dragons," Logan said, flicking through pages. "He never associated much with them. Seath invented sorcery, the Witch of Izalith taught the people of the Great Swamp Pyromancy and Gwyn ruled from Anor Londo, but Nito simply disappeared into the Catacombs and then into the Tomb of the Giants. A handful followed him, but aside from that there's been no contact with him." He slapped the book shut. "But your mother and I still have a large amount of research ahead of us. I think there's a few scrolls that one of his necromancers wrote, we should start there."

Robin had been pouring over a calendar that she had pinned to the wall, one that was covered with countless notes. Peering over, she saw that her mother had marked the date when Fare and Solaire had arrived, the day of their mission, and the day of the attack on the castle. All of it was fairly clear. Less so was that the entire current week was circled, with days past having an x through them. Robin was putting an x through the last day, her hand trembling as she did. Lucina blinked. What was that about?

Her train of thought was interrupted as Lissa gently elbowed her in the side. "Lucina," she whispered softly. Raising her hand, she pointed down the hallway. Lucina looked where she was pointing and her stomach dropped. Her brother was sitting at the far end of the hallway, speaking softly and kindly as he held the hand of a red headed girl in leather armor and twin pig-tails. Severa, Cordelia's daughter.

Severa had been talking to Morgan when she noticed that Lucina was looking at her. With a sudden pull, she ripped her hand out of Morgan's and clasped both of her hands between her legs. Morgan blinked in confusion before realizing that his sister was now looking at them. His usual cheerful demeanor was still present, but noticeably muffled. His smile wasn't as wide as it normally was. "Go," Lissa whispered. "I should head back to Cordelia anyway." With that, she left.

Lucina began to walk forward at once. Severa could be a very insecure person, even at the best of times. If she had hesitated to approach, she had no doubt that it would be taken the wrong way. Thankfully, things had not gone that way, and Severa tried to smile at her. The key word was try, as her lips rose half heartedly before falling back down and looking at the ground. As she stopped in front of them, Lucina decided to not beat around the matter. "It feels like it's happening all over again, doesn't it?"

Severa nodded briskly. "I mean, children are supposed to outlive their parents," Severa said, not looking up, "but they're supposed to die of old age. Not because they never came back from a fight. We traveled back in time, we gave up what little lives we had in the future to keep things like this from happening. It didn't change a thing. It was a dragon all over again too. Just to rub it in."

Lucina scowled as she remembered Seath. Arrogant and boastful, tormenting her friends and doing Naga knows what else. She was hesitant to call Seath a dragon, there was a certain amount of grace that dragons were supposed to carry. Even Grima had done more of that than Seath. "But it's different this time," Lucina said. "Your mother is still alive. And the dragon isn't. He can't hurt anyone else anymore."

'Heh," Severa said softly, not sounding entirely convinced. "But the damage he did is going to leave its mark, isn't it? They're not sure if Mom is ever going to be able to walk again, are they?"

"Aunt Lissa says it's possible," Morgan said brightly. "We've taken worse odds than that and managed to come out on top didn't we?"

This time when Severa chuckled it actually sounded slightly genuine. "Look. I just, I don't know. Feel kind of…ugh, I can't say it properly." She took a deep breath, "Not to sound selfish, but why did these people from Lordran have to come here?" she asked bitterly. "I hear half of them can't actually die, so why do they need our help? We already saved the world from an all consuming darkness, and we didn't drag people who weren't involved into it. We got our parents involved because Grima was going to kill them all."

Severa's head snapped up, anger and frustration in her eyes. Lucina wanted to tell her that was being selfish, but the words died in her throat. Even if she was being selfish, it was understandable. From a cut and dry standpoint, it really did seem unfair that Cordelia was possibly crippled for life while Fare and Solaire were still walking around. There was more to it, but how exactly was she supposed to tell Severa that?

"My words may sound hollow, but I beg for your forgiveness." Solaire had apparently overhead their conversation from Robin's study, because he was now standing outside. With one fluid move, he dropped to one knee. "Though if you cannot bring yourself to, I will understand."

Severa had a complicated look on her face. As if she deeply wanted to be mad but was finding it difficult to be so. It was, after all, hard to be mad at someone who accepted all of your criticisms without any complaint. "It's not that easy," Severa said, folding her arms and taking great efforts to not meet Solaire's eye. "You can't just ask someone to forget that you've hurt them. You have to do more than say that you're sorry."

Lucina felt exasperation towards her friend. Solaire hadn't been the one to cripple Cordelia. In fact, he had been the one who worked with Lissa to heal her. Solaire didn't seem to care however. He simply rose to his feet and nodded solemnly. "So. Where's your boss?" Severa asked, still not looking at Solaire. "This Chosen Undead? I think her name was Fare? I want to have a word with her."

Morgan shot Severa a nervous look from her side, and Lucina knew they were both thinking the same thing. Severa hadn't exploded just yet, but she was simmering with anger and looking for something to unleash it on. Solaire had been too polite and humble for it to be him. Lucina was certain that she wanted to find Fare to see if she was a better target. "No," Lucina thought, her mind racing. "That would be a terrible idea. Fare hasn't even been cured of her curse yet. I'm sorry Severa, but you going after her is the last thing that we need right now."

"I'm not certain," Solaire said. "I only just returned from Lordran with Logan. I haven't seen her since I left." Lucina didn't dare turn around to try and read Solaire's expression. It would attract Severa's suspicion. She didn't know if Solaire was telling the truth or not. It certainly sounded like he was, and hopefully that was the case.

"I haven't seen her around much either," Lucina said, "she's never at her room when I go to check." It was technically true. She had left out the part where Fare had occasionally stopped by to check up on Cordelia. Those had been uncomfortable moments, with her silently looking over the unconscious Pegasus rider before leaving without a word. Severa didn't need to hear that right now.

Severa gave Lucina a thick penetrating gaze, looking for any signs of deception. She apparently didn't find any as she looked away without a word. She stared out of a nearby window that gave her a view into the courtyard. For a few moments, an awkward silence filled the hallway. Lucina rubbed the back of her neck in discomfort. Severa wasn't actively getting more angry, that was good at the very least. Now she just needed to find a way to calm her down. Taking her to see Cordelia now that she was awake was probably the best way to do that, but she would have to do it gently.

She never got the chance. As Severa continued to gaze out of the window, her eyes widened. Focusing on a single point, she stared for a couple of seconds. Then, without another word, she turned and sped out of the hallway, heading for the entrance to the courtyard. "Where's she going?" Morgan asked in confusion, his eyes following her.

Lucina was wondering the same thing when she took a quick look out the same window that Severa had been looking out of. There was nothing out there, night had fallen over Ylisstol. The only exception was the tiny pinprick the Bonfire was making. "Wait," Lucina said to herself. "The Bonfire? Is Fare…oh no. Severa, WAIT!"

Without another world, she was off, following Severa's trail. She took a few twists and turns before bursting through the front doors and onto the courtyard. Severa was just ahead of her, having come to a full top. She was staring fixedly at the Bonfire, not saying anything.

Lucina was hit by a tidal wave of dread as she saw Fare sitting at the Bonfire, gazing into it with a trance like look on her face. Her helmet was by her side, and Lucina could see that Fare was still Undead. Her skin was red and stretched, something that was almost enough to distract Lucina from how her eyes were glowing like dying embers. Her expression was lifeless. She was starting into the fire as if she wasn't truly seeing it.

"So that's her?" Severa asked through grit teeth. There was fire in her voice, and Lucina know that she had finally found what she was looking for. Something to be mad at. "I notice that she's still walking around. Her legs seem to work just fine. Is that the only thing that happened to her? She got turned ugly?" She let out a cold bitter laugh. "Not exactly a tragedy is it?"

Severa was crossing the grounds, heading towards Fare. Lucina heard footsteps behind her and knew that the others were right behind her, but she didn't have time to wait. She had to act now. "Look," Lucina said, thinking fast. "I don't know how much you know about Lordran, but being Undead isn't a blessing, it's a curse. When Fare dies she doesn't just fall down and then get back up. I've seen her come back and it's agony for her. Its harder every time, and if she slips coming back, she goes Hollow. Do you know what that is?"

Severa wasn't listening. She was marching across the courtyard to the Bonfire, Lucina just barely keeping up. All of the noise had finally gotten Fare's attention. She looked up as Severa stopped just short of her. Her glowing eyes rested on Severa's bright red hair. Her face sunk in sadness as she lowered her head, turning back to the Bonfire.

"Look at me," Severa said viciously. "Do you know what it's like to have the people you love the most die? To know that they're never coming back?"

There was a moment before Fare replied. "No." Her voice was low and raspy, as it had been the last time she had been in her Undead form. It was also a little strangled. "Hollows attacked my home in the Great Swamp, but I didn't see them kill anyone. I was one of the first they killed. When I came to-"

"No, that's all I needed to hear," Severa said, interrupting Fare. "Because I do! My mother and father both died because of Grima! I came back to save them! And now it's only been three years and my mother is crippled for life! Because of you!" Lucina instinctively gripped Falcion's handle as panic slowly began to creep up on her. Severa was beyond the point of being reasoned with, she had decided that she wanted to be angry. Trying to stop her would most likely backfire and make her even angrier. Right now her best hope was that Fare wouldn't react in a way that kept fueling Severa's fire, and that she would burn herself out quickly.

Fare swallowed, still not making eye contract with Severa. "I'm sorry," she said hoarsely. "You're right. Part of it is my fault. If I-"

"PART!?" Severa shrieked, "ALL of it was your fault!" Lucina winced as Severa's voice rose to a scream, as did Fare. This was getting out of hand fast. "You've been dealing with monsters and demons up until now just fine without our help! We don't come back when we die, so why are you hiding behind us? You're the hero that's supposed to save your world from the Abyss? Pathetic."

Lucina had had enough. Severa was her friend, but she had her limits. Rounding on Severa, she said in a level but sharp voice, "Fare wanted to leave as soon as she got here, but we stopped her, we insisted that we should help her. If you're going to blame anyone Severa, blame me. I've lost track of the number of times she told me that she thought it was a bad idea, and I convinced her otherwise." She took a deep breath before looking directly into Severa's eyes, ready to stand her ground.

Severa had turned her attention away from Fare and onto her. She was hesitating. Judging by the fury that was still burning behind her eyes, she still wanted to be mad at someone. However, Lucina didn't seem to be as ideal of a target as Fare. She glared at Lucina, glancing at Fare out of the corner of her eyes as she did. "She's a grown woman," Severa said, her voice low and full of venom. "She's old enough to make her own decisions. Someone who's supposed to rule when this is all over shouldn't need someone to hold their hand."

Fare let out a sigh as she got to her feet, looking down at the Bonfire. "It's ok Lucina," she said sadly. "You can't make her not be mad at me." Finally, looking as if it was taking her a great deal of effort, she looked at Severa. "I'm sorry about your mother. I wish it hadn't happened, I wish I could have stopped it. I would've gladly traded places with her. But I can't do that. If you want to be angry at me, I can handle that."

Severa was fuming as she look at Fare. At her sad, broken expression and her honest remorse, shining through even when Fare was Undead Apparently this was the last thing that Severa wanted to hear. "Just like that huh? Do you react that way when people get killed because of you too? Just accept it and tell people to hate you if they need to? Maybe next time it'll be the other way around and you'll get someone's daughter killed. Let's see if you can pull this off with an angry mother as well as you can an angry daughter."

Just when Lucina was about to intervene again, to tell Severa that this had gone on too long, something unexpected happened. Fare's eyes widened in horror and she took a step back. "No," she whispered, her breathing starting to become shallower and sharper. "No. I didn't know. I didn't-" she said, her glowing pupils darting back and forth in panic.

"Severa," Lucina said in a low mutter. "Enough. This isn't helping anyone, especially your mother." Severa ignored her.

"So, did you not realize until just now what exactly happened?" she asked. She was still angry but there was glee in her voice now. She had finally gotten a reaction out of Fare, one of panic and dismay. "Did you not even think about it when you saw her writing on the ground in pain? Or were you too busy thinking about what you'd do when you got your crown?"

"That's not-I didn't mean to," Fare said, her eyes now bulging in panic. "Please, you need to understand."

"Severa, stop it!" Lucina said firmly and loudly. "You're being cruel!" She was mainly focusing on stopping Several, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but notice something. Fare wasn't looking at Severa. She was looking in the general direction, but her gaze didn't seem to be fixed on anything in particular. It was if she was staring off into space.

"How in Naga's name are you supposed to be able to save anyone?" Severa said scathingly. "How are you suppose to be a leader like Lucina when you act like this? How can you ever hold a candle to her? Huh? How?" She folded her arms again as she spoke, a self satisfied smirk playing around the edges of her mouth.

"I didn't know!" Fare screamed hysterically. "She was trying to kill me! I needed to get-if I didn't- it was me or her! If I had known I swear I wouldn't have!" Everything went quiet after that. The anger seeped out of Severa, to be replaced by pure confusion. She wasn't the only one. Lucina had no idea what Fare had meant. It sounded like Fare had been having a completely different conversation with someone else.

"Fare?" the soft and concerned voice of Solaire said from behind Lucina. "Are you all right?" Fare was slowly backing up. Her eyes were more focused now, and they were darting back and forth between Lucina and Severa. A look of pure terror on her face. "I-I," she stuttered. "I didn't. It was-I didn't know that-how could I," she babbled. For a few painful seconds, continued to stare.

Then, without warning, she spun on the spot and dove for the Bonfire, her hand reaching out for it. "Fare, no!" Lucina shouted, throwing herself toward and trying to keep the Undead warrior from traveling through the Bonfire. She was too late. She had barely touched Fare when a warm feeling wrapped around her and everything was swallowed up by darkness. Before Lucina could say a word, the darkness around them slipped away. They were back in Firelink Shrine.

It appeared that traveling though the Bonfires did not cancel out motion. Lucina was still moving forward, and accidentally smashed onto her, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. Struggling, Lucina got up, guilt pumping through her as she looked down. "Fare, I'm so sorry," Lucina said, extending a hand to help Fare up. "I should've stopped her before that."

Fare got to her feet without taking Lucina's hand, looking at the ground in shame. Lucina waited patiently for Fare to reply to her. The seconds ticked by, but not so much as a peep escaped her lips. Eventually, Lucina decided to address her directly. "What happened back there?" Fare stiffened noticeably, and Lucina hastily added, "If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you,"

Reaching down, the Chosen Undead gently stroked the handle of her jade green sword. She sniffed softly. "Have you ever done something horrible?" she asked quietly. "Have you ever done something that made you ask if you deserved to live?" Lucina blinked in shock. She had guessed that, whatever Fare had been talking about, it had been bothering her deeply. It being this severe, however, was not something that had been expected.

"No," Lucina said honestly. She had done things that she wasn't proud of. Part of her had felt like a coward for abandoning her own time and traveling back, as well as guilty for the stress that had caused for her friends. But the thing that ashamed her the most had to be when she had almost killed her own mother. She still had nightmares about that every once in awhile, holding her sword against her mother's chest, nothing but a warm smile of acceptance on the face of the woman who had given birth to her.

If she had gone through with it, she knew that she would feel the way Fare was describing. Wondering if she truly deserved to live. Thankfully it had not come to that. Robin had been too kind, too understanding. No matter how hard she had tried, Lucina couldn't bring herself to kill her. In fact, the incident had ended with Falcion on the ground and her sobbing into her mother's chest. "But I've come close," she said. "Far too close."

Fare looked up, swallowing as she did. "I don't know all of the details, but in a way that just makes it more unbearable." She was about to continue when a loud rushing noise filled the air. Solaire appeared next to her, looking around with concern. A look of relief crossed his face when he spotted the two of them. Though Fare looked at him nervously.

"We can talk another-" Lucina began, but Fare shook her head.

"No," she rasped. "I should have told him a long time ago. But I really do need to take care of this curse. I've been putting it off for too long now. There's someone nearby who can help me with it. Follow me." With that, Fare began to walk away from the Bonfire. Solaire barely had time to shoot Lucina a puzzled look before the two of them began to follow Fare. They passed through the crumbling ruins of Firelink Shrine, past a dozing Frampt and the gloomy knight.

"Still alive?" he said sourly as he saw them. All three of them ignored him. Eventually, they found themselves in front of a large nook that had been carved into the side of a great stone wall covered in moss. A perfectly square room was inside, a till on the ground oddly elevated.

"In here," Fare said, "don't step on that panel until we're all in. Lucina and Solaire entered first, with Fare right behind them. Putting her foot down on the panel, it sank into the ground. At once, the room lurched, a metal grate slid shut in front of the door, and it began to rise upward. Lucina gaped out of the metal grate in surprise. She could see Firelink Shrine shrinking below her as the room that they were in sped away, heading higher and higher.

Fare gave a weak smile at the look on Lucina's face. "They don't have elevators in your world I see," she said. "But I did promise you an explanation." She swallowed. "In order to prove myself as the Chosen Undead, I had to ring two bells. The Bells of Awakening, which woke Frampt from his slumber. The first bell is just up ahead, Solaire helped me reach it and ring it." Solaire smiled fondly, but his face quickly turned neutral as Fare continued to speak.

"The second one was much harder, and the first one was a trying challenge. It was far below the surface, in a miserable place called Blighttown. Dark, cold,wet and absolutely filthy. I wanted to dunk myself underwater after five minutes there. Poison was seeping out of every corner, and the structures there were barely cobbled together, ready to fall over. Somehow, the second bell was at the far and of this. Somehow, I made it through, and into the cave where the bell was.

Fare fidgeted uncomfortably, but continued to speak. "There was a woman guarding it, or at least something that had once been a woman. From the waist up she was normal, but below, she was anything but. Her torso was connected to the head of a massive spider, around the size of a small house, maybe two. She attacked me the second I entered the cave. The spider vomited lava onto me and killed me, and when I got back she was still there, as if she had been waiting for me."

Lucina resisted the urge to tilt her head in confusion. So far, she failed to see how this scenario could lead to Fare doing something wrong. This half human, half spider creature had attacked her without provocation, repeatedly. Even if Fare killed her, it would have been in self-defense. Possibly something to feel guilty over, but not the overwhelming guilt that Fare had talked about.

"She killed me quite a few times. I don't know how many, I didn't keep track. I was getting angry. I didn't know anything about the prophecy other than what Oscar had told me. I wanted answers, I wanted a cure for the Darksign, I wanted to know if I was the Chosen. Finally, I tried a different approach. Before I had been attacking her torso, trying to reach her human body. Instead, I went after the legs. They took a couple of blows each, but they came off."

Fare's hands were trembling now. She attempted to grip the hilt of her Furysword, but only succeeded in making it rattle against the sheath of her longsword. "I was getting excited. She was moving slower and slower, her attacks easier to block and dodge. I took out a few more legs and she fell over, she couldn't move. I climbed onto the back of the spider's body. It was covered with eyes, all of them blinking and widening as they looked at me. She had a sword in her hands." She drew the Furysword. "This sword. She tried to take my head off, but my shield took the blow, and I drove my longsword into her throat. I was pleased with myself, and took this sword as a trophy. It creates flames and is a fast and light weapon. It was ideal for me."

The sword shook violently as she slid it back into its sheath. "I found the Bell of Awakening and rang it. It was the happiest I had been in a long time. I was about to use a Homeward Bone to head back to the surface when a spotted something odd. A cave wall that didn't look quite right. When I tried to touch it, my hand moved right through it. It was only an illusion. I went through."

She bit her lip. "I found another creature just like the one that I had killed. Only this one was ill, severely so. She was a sad sight, frail, shriveled and white as a ghost. She was in pain and blind, could barely understand what was going on around her. A man was with her, just as blind as she was. Giant eggs were growing out of his back, stretching out like a hump. They were so heavy he couldn't even walk. He was her caretaker. And the woman thought that I was her sister. She called me Quelaag."

Fare let out an odd, strangled noise. Lucina continued to stare at her, not understanding. Who was Quelaag? Someone that Fare had known? Fare noticed Lucina's lack of comprehension. "Quelaag is one of the daughters of the Witch of Izalith," she said, the words coming out strained.

It all hit Lucina. At first she had thought that Fare had felt guilt over a monster that had had an ill relative that it had been protecting. It had been so much more than that. "But," she said, trying to make sense of the latest revelation, "how is that possible? Why did she have a giant spider for a body? Why did she attack you on sight?"

"I don't know what happened to her," Fare said in a distressed tone. "And I don't know why she attacked me either. Maybe she thought I was a Hollow. Maybe she thought I was infringing on her territory. I don't know, and I ever will know. Because I killed her!"

"It doesn't sound like the Quelaag of legends," Solaire said quickly. "Most likely, she was corrupted by the Abyss. Not even Artorias the Abysswalker could withstand that forever. If she attacked you on sight without even warning you to stay away, then I doubt she was the same Quelaag who helped defeat the dragons. She had been reduced to a mindless beast. You might have done her a kindness."

But Fare shook her head. "Her sister had undergone the exact same transformation. The only reason that she was will was that she had been sucking the pus out of those who had been infected with the egg parasites." Lucina had to fight down the urge to wretch. The thought of a woman sucking pus out of a massive growth made the inside of her stomach curl.

"Maybe her sister wasting away like that pushed Quelaag over the edge, maybe she was just making sure no one found her sister. The point is, I'll never know which is the truth. Her sister and the caretaker are in no state to tell me. They don't even realize that she's dead. I'm not even certain if I want to know." Fare went very quiet.

"I," Lucina said, not sure how to respond. She had had no idea that Fare had been sitting on this guilt for so long. "Have you ever gone back? Back to see the sister?"

After a moment's hesitation, Fare nodded. "Humanity eases her pain. I've been giving her what I could spare. Sometimes it makes me feel better, but then I ask who I'm doing it for. Her? Or myself." The pyromancer trailed off, her eyes not focusing on anything in particular. "I just don't know," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "I don't know if I did the right thing."

Lucina looked at Solaire for support, only to find him doing the exact same thing to her. "Fare," Solaire said, sounding as if he was making up what he said as he went along, "Think about it. Gravelord Nito, the Four Kings and Seath. They all had Lord Souls and even then they all turned against the light. Either siding with the Abyss, or their own selfish desires. I do not mean to belittle a Daughter of Chaos, but if so many holders of the Lord Soul could fall, then she most certainly could."

"And think of it this way," Lucina said, having just realized something. "She should have known about the prophecy. She had to have known what the Bell of Awakening was. The prophecy was about the one who would succeed Gwyn. There's no way a Lord couldn't have known, and if she didn't, it would've been because she cut ties with the rest of them."

Fare looked surprised as Lucina spoke. Evidently, she had not thought about this possibility. "I don't know," Fare said. A ghost of a smile was playing around the edge of her lips. She seemed to slowly be getting into a better mood, but didn't seem fully convinced that she had been in the right.

"Can we prove her fall beyond a doubt? No. But you need to remember something Fare." Solaire moved forward and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You were the one who rang the bells, you were the one who found the Lordvessel. You're Gwyn's chosen. Do you think that Gwyn would condemn the daughter of a close ally to death like that?" A smile spread across Fare's face. Slowly, and even when it was finished it was a fragile looking smile.

"Maybe," Fare said. "Thank you, you two. Could you please do me a favor and not tell anyone else? I'm not ready for the others to know just yet." Solaire nodded, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze before taking his hand off. Lucina felt relief course through her as she nodded. There was still the matter of an angry Severa back home, but those wounds would heal. Slowly over time, but they would heal.

At that point, the elevator came to a stop and the grate opened. Fare stepped out, Lucina and Solaire right behind her. They were no longer in the ruins of Firelink Shrine, but a large stone chapel. If the distance of the ceiling was anything to go buy, it was at least three stories high. It had a certain beauty to it, but it looked very old and worn, patches of green moss clinging to the walls here and there. There was an altar at the front with several statues surrounding it, most of them having faded and one of them having been smashed. The statue of the woman lying on top of the altar, her hands crossed over her chest, appeared to be in much better shape though.

Lucina continued to stare, and realized with a jolt that it wasn't a statue. It was a corpse. Fare nodded and nodded sadly. "She was like that when I found her. She was a Firekeeper, women who tend to certain fires, making them even stronger. Firelink has one, hidden in an alcove. Someone probably killed her for her soul, she would have had a larger than average one." She sighed in disgust. "No idea who did it though. Anyway, let's not dwell on this. I doubt any of us want to stay longer than we have to."

Lucina didn't complain. Her limited time in Lordran had made her wary of the land. She couldn't help but expect more Hollows to creep out from dark corners. Thankfully none of them did. Fare led the others up a staircase, across to the other side of the chapel, and up two sets of ladders. This lead them through a narrow door onto the roof of the chapel, a bell tower on the other side.

Lucina was treated to a sweeping view of a giant town as they began to make their way across. She had to admit, after the towering wonders of Anor Londo, this was a bit of a disappointment. The buildings that dotted the landscape were tiny, unremarkable, and stuffed together, with barely any space in-between them. It looked like it had been designed to accommodate sheer size and little else. So this was Undead Burg.

They crossed the rooftop, Lucina having to step over a pair of corpses as she did. Both of them were slightly bigger than Tarkus, had halberds of comparative size, and had long since rotted away to bone. Lucina had a very good feeling that this things, whatever they were, had been alive when Fare and Solaire had first arrived.

As they crossed the threshold into the bell tower, they were greeted by a very odd looking man. Dressed in flowing black robes and with a bronze helmet on his head, he was standing with his arms stretched out and his palms open. "Welcome," he said softly, smiling as they entered. "I am Oswald of Carim. How may I be of-ah." He gave a wide, toothy smile as he spotted Fare. "Poor soul. Cursed. Thou shall want a purging stone then?"

"Two," Fare said, looking at Oswald with a cautious expression. "Just in case it happens again." Oswald gave a soft laugh and held out one of his arms. Fare clasped it, and Oswald turned his slightly, twisting Fare's with it. A stream of silver, vapor like substance flowed from Fare's arm into Oswald, a gentle sighing noise accompanying it. After half a minute, Oswald pulled away. Fare looked livid. "That was half of what I had," she said through grit teeth.

"Purging stones are not easy to come by. They're not simple rocks," Oswald said, reaching into his robes and handing Fare two square stones, a dull ash color, and with a skull in the center. Fare took them both, placing one in the center of her palm and squeezing tightly. Fare let out a soft sigh of relief as the symptoms of the Undead curse faded away. She was back to her normal self, her rugged skin, her dull hazel eyes, and her short and messy black hair.

She looked down at the purging stone, which had turned from ash to pitch black. It crumbled in her hands. "Thank you," Fare said, sliding the other stone into her bottomless box. "We really should head back," she said, turning her attention away from Oswald.

"I agree. I think Severa owes you a sincere apology," Solaire said firmly. Fare went a little red in the face and was about to reply when Oswald interrupted her.

"Wait," he said, holding up one hand. Oswald gave a cruel and knowing smile, his eyes moving up to look at the ceiling. "I can see thy's sin. Thou were supposed to be a liberator, but you ended up destroying something precious. In your rush to prove yourself, thou succumbed to arrogance, letting your pride carry you forward. Thou were on a righteous mission, how could you do no wrong? Yet thou did, and the innocent payed for your error. With blood." His head leveled out, his grin still coating it. "Thou know that I speak the truth. Come now. Thou may plead for forgiveness here." Without warning, he let out a shrill and high-pitched laugh. "Though I must warn thou. Thy sins are like none I have seen. I once believed myself capable of undoing any sin. Thou may prove me wrong."

Lucina frowned darkly. So much had happened today, and she really didn't want to deal with Oswald right now. She had no idea how he know enough to make guess like that. Did he have some sort of ability that allowed him to know? Was it just lucky guess work "We're going," she said firmly.

Oswald waved as they left the tower. "Thou art welcome anytime. It is only human to commit a sin." His high pitched laughter echoed in Lucina's ears as she left the bell tower.

"Was he the only person you could've bought a purging stone from?" she asked sourly to Fare, who was right behind her.

"No. There was one other person, and I know this may be hard to believe, but he was actually the more preferable of the two," Fare said bitterly. "The other is an Undead woman not far from Firelink. But I prefer to not talk to her if I can help it. She makes me feel uncomfortable." Lucina wondered how someone could be preferable to Oswald, but then decided that she might be better off not knowing.

"I still believe in what I said," Solaire said. "Severa should apologize."

Fare rubbed the back of her neck in discomfort. "Look, I appreciate the sentiment. Truth be told though, I'd rather not bring it up again. If she wants to hate me, I meant what I said. I can live with that. Right now I just want to head back and help Robin plan. We're heading towards Gravelord Nito next, from what I heard, and I have a little experience with his realm. I've been in the catacombs that lead to his lair."

"What were you doing in there?" Lucina asked. Fare went very red in the face. She mumbled something that sounded like "wrong direction" and "only near the entrance" before changing the subject. "To be honest, I feel like the best solution would be to avoid more trouble with Severa. If you drag an apology out of someone, it doesn't help anything. And I doubt that she'd give me one of her own free will."

"I'm not so certain," Lucina said. "She looked surprised when you ran. She has a tendency to act without thinking, she very rarely wants to actually hurt someone. I think she might feel ashamed at how hard she pushed you. Especially when she calms down and realizes that wait happened to Cordelia wasn't your fault."

"Maybe," Fare said, not sounding convinced. "It's just that-" but she brought off. A gentle, crisp tolling was coming from the top of the bell tower. Lucina blinked in surprise as she saw the Bell of Awakening rocking back and forth. Had Oswald rung it? Though, what truly surprised her, was how comforting the sound was. She would have thought that a lone bell, ringing in a cramped and rundown settlement like this would have been eery. It wasn't. It was actually rather soothing.

Fare seemed to agree with her, as a natural, full smile was spreading across her face. "Come on," she said, as the bell slowly ceased its ringing. The three of them said nothing as they headed back towards the entrance. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was a content one. For whatever reason, the ringing of the bell had brought Lucina and the others a moment of peace. It would end, it would end all too soon. For the moment, however, they would simply enjoy it in silence.

XXXXX

Author's Note: Due to the minimalist nature of Dark Souls, it can be hard to tell what the motivations of certain characters are. For example, Quelaag. Was she a mindless beast? Was she defending her turf? Or did she intentionally set up shop over the Bell of Awakening to farm humanity from people trying to reach it? There is no canon answer. That's the interesting thing about Dark Souls fanfiction, people can come at each character from different angles. Hell, I myself only realized the "she HAD to have known about the Bell of Awakening" approach while writing this chapter. Of course, there's potentially more to it than that.

So sorry about the wait, my life is a little awkward right now, hopefully I'll catch a writing bug before too long.

I would like to thank my Patrons, SuperFeatherYoshi and xXNanamiXx for supporting my work via . I would also like to thank SuperFeatherYoshi for being my proofreader, even if he was unavailable for this chapter.


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